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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


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COMMON    FEATURES,   WHICH    APPEAR 

IN    ALL 

FORMS   OF    RELIGIOUS    BELIEF. 


PUBLICATIONS    BY   THE    SAME    AUTHOR. 


ETON   ADDRESSES   TO    KING   WILLIAM    IV.       1840. 

HAILEYBURY- OBSERVER   CONTRIBUTIONS.      1840-1842. 

CALCUTTA- REVIEW   CONTRIBUTIONS.       1845-1893. 

HISTORY   OF  COCKAYNE-HATLEY   CHURCH.      1851. 

MANUALS     FOR     GUIDANCE     OF     NATIVE     OFFICIALS     IN     THE 

URDU -LANGUAGE.      1855  to  1859. 
PANJAB   REVENUE-MANUAL.      1865. 

REVENUE-LAW   OF    NORTH-WEST   PROVINCES   OF   INDIA.       1867. 
LAND-REVENUE-PROCEDURE   FOR   NORTHERN    INDIA.      1870. 
MODERN    LANGUAGES   OF  THE   EAST    INDIES.       1878. 
LES   RELIGIONS  ET   LES   LANGUES   DE  L'INDE  (French).      1S80. 
LA   RELIGIONE   ET  LE  LINGUE  DELL'   INDIA   (Italian).      1882. 
LAS   RELIGIONES  Y   LOS  IDIOMAS  DE   LA   INDIA  (Spanish).     1884. 
QprjcTKiidi  Kol  rXoKraai  rrjs  'IvSia^  (Greek).       1884. 
MODERN    LANGUAGES   OF  AFRICA.     2  Vols.      1883. 
LES   LANGUES   DE   L'AFRIQUE  (French).      1885.     (German.     1881.) 
LE  LINGUE  DELL'  AFRICA  (Italian).      1885. 
MODERN   LANGUAGES  OF  OCEANIA.      1887.     (German.     18S7.) 
LES   RACES  ET  LES   LANGUES   DE   L'OCEANIE  (French).      1888. 
MODERN    LANGUAGES   OF  THE   CAUCASIAN-GROUP.       1887. 
LANGUAGES    OF    THE  TURKI    BRANCH    OF   THE    URAL-ALTAIC 

FAMILY.      1889.     (German  and  English.) 
LINGUISTIC   AND   ORIENTAL   ESSAYS.     Series  I.     1880. 
LINGUISTIC   AND   ORIENTAL   ESSAYS.     Series  II.     1887. 
LINGUISTIC   AND   ORIENTAL   ESSAYS.     Series  III.     1891. 
PICTURES   OF   INDIAN    LIFE.      1881. 
THE    ROMAN    CATHOLIC    SHRINES     OF    LOURDES,    ZARAGO.SSA, 

LORETTO,  Etc.      1885  and  1892. 
POEMS   OF   MANY  YEARS  AND    PLACES.       1887. 
SUMMER- HOLIDAYS   OF  AN    ETON    BOY.       1887. 
THE  SORROWS   OF  AN   ANGLO-INDIAN    LIFE.       1889. 
NOTES   ON   MISSIONARY  SUBJECTS.      1889. 
BIBLE- LANGUAGES.     1890. 
CLOUDS     ON     THE     HORIZON,     OR    THE    VARIOUS     FORMS     OF 

RELIGIOUS    ERROR.      1890. 
BIBLE-TRANSLATIONS.      1890. 
AFRICA    REDIVIVA,    OR    MISSIONARY    OCCUPATION    OF  AFRICA. 

1891.     (French  AND  English.) 
ADDRESSES   ON    BIBLE-DIFFUSION.     1892. 
ESSAY     ON     THE     METHODS     OF      EVANGELIZATION      OF     THE 

W^ORLD.       1894. 
COMMON    FEATURES,    WHICH   APPEAR    IN   ALL   THE    RELIGIONS 

OF   THE   WORLD   BEFORE  ANNO    DOMINI.     1895. 
THE   GOSPEL-MESSAGE.       (/;;  ///r  Press.) 


ESSAY 

ON    THK 

COMMON  FEATURES,  WHICH  APPEAR  IN 
ALL  FORMS  OF  RELIGIOUS  BELIEF. 


ROHERT    NEEDHAM    GUST,  LL.D., 

PARRISTER-AT-LAVV, 

HONORARY    SECRETARY    OE    THE    ROYAL    ASIATIC    SOCIETY, 

LATE     MEMBER     OF     HER     MAJESTY'S     INDIAN     CIVIL     SERVICE. 


I.     Who   in   times   past    suffered   all  nations    to   walk   in    their    own   ways. 
Acts,  xiv,  i6. 
II.     Other  sheep  I  have,  which  are  not  of  this  fold,     /okn,  x,  i6. 

III.  They  are  less  to  be  blamed,  for  they  peradventure  seek  God  and  desire  to 

find  Him.      Wisdom  of  Solomon ,  xiii,  6. 

IV.  He  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face 

of  the  earth  .   .  .   that  they  should  seek  the  Lord,  and  find  Him,  though 
He  be  not  far  from  every  one  of  us.     Acts,  .wii,  26,  27. 
V.     And  the  times  of  this  ignorance  God  winked  at,  but  now  commandeth  all 

men  everywhere  to  repent.     Acts,  xvii,  30. 
VI.     One  God  and  Father  of  all.     Ephesians,  iv,  6. 
VII.     The  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God.     i  Cor.  i,  21. 
\"1II.     God,  who  at  sundry  times.     Hebrews,  i,  i. 
IX.     No  respecter  of  persons.     Acts,  x,  34. 


LONDON: 
LUZAC    &    CO.,    46,    GREAT    RUSSELL    STREET, 

1895. 

\_All  rJi^hls  reserved.] 


HRRTFORD: 

PRINTED    BY    STEPHEN    AUSTIN    AND    SONS 


3L 

c?7 


STo  mg  ttoa  IBaugljtcrs, 
MARIA     ELEANOR     VERE, 

AND 

ANNA      MARIA      ELIZABETH, 
THIS    FEELING    FOR    THE    TRUTH 

IS 

DetJicatcti. 


2070410 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/essayoncommonfeaOOcust 


(     ix     ) 


And  now  my  Summer-task  is  ended.     Roll 

Up  all  my  papers,  and  my  volumes  close  : 
From  parts  divergent  I  have  sought  a  whole, 
Complete  and  perfect,  as  before  me  rose 

The  variant  Message,  which  from  Heaven's  abode 
Came  down  to  earth  to  lead  poor  man  to  God. 

Each  Message  but  reveals  th'  unchanging  plan 
Of  Love  and  Kindness  to  poor  Humankind, 
And,  like  a  sunflower,  turns  the  heart  of  man 
Groping  through  darkness  his  soul's  sun  to  find  : 
No  cavern  is  so  dark,  but  through  the  night 
One  ray  streams  in  of  God's  eternal  light. 

As  his  forefathers  did  in  Abraham's  time. 

Still  by  the  stream  the  Brahmin  chaunts  his  prayers  ; 
The  Buddhist  asks  for  nothing,  but  sublime 
Emancipation  from  Life's  dreary  cares. 

Oh  !  could  no  Angel  earth's  hard  path  have  trod 
To  whisper  in  his  ear  :  "  There  is  a  God  !" 

Can  we  believ'e,  that  all-embracing  Grace, 

Which  o'er  Creation's  waters  used  to  glide, 
Chose  out  one  puny,  graceless,  Jewish  Race, 
And  shut  the  gates  of  Hope  on  all  beside  : 

Let  them  indulge  their  passions  and  their  crimes 
And  raise  up  trophies  to  outlive  all  times  ? 

Buddha,  Confucius,  Plato,  Socrates, 

Left  words  of  gold,  which  no  age  can  destroy  ; 
They  please,  when  all  things  else  have  ceased  to  please  : 
But  of  those  holy  men  how  great  the  joy, 

Had  God's  own  Message  by  their  soul  been  heard  ; 
If  one  still  voice  their  inward  heart  had  stirred  ! 

h 


(       X       ) 

"  Call  nothing  common  and  unclean"  applies 

Not  to  the  Future  only,  but  the  Past  : 
To  one  He  gives,  to  others  He  denies  ; 
According  to  His  will  man's  lot  is  cast  : 

He  will  not  reap,  where  He  has  never  sown, 
Or  claim  obedience,  where  He  is  not  known. 

Full  many  a  heathen  lived  out  holy  days, 

Died  for  his  altar,  for  his  country  strove  ; 
Spake  hymns  Heaven-prompted,  full  of  prayer  and  praise, 
And  words  of  Wisdom,  Piety,  and  Love. 

Fell  not  Thy  shadow.  Lord  !  on  those  behind, 
When  on  the  Cross  Thou  suffered  for  mankind  ? 

Poor  little  children  die,  who  knew  no  spot, 
Unconscious  of  their  life,  and  undefiled  : 
Can  we  suppose,  that  torture  is  their  lot  ? 
Were  not  the  heathen  Races  like  a  child  ? 

Salvation  is  the  goal  of  Heaven's  great  plan, 
And  justifies  the  ways  of  God  to  man. 

I  hope  through  Him,  who  has  the  power  to  save, 

To  be  with  Christ,  which  is  far  better — far. 
To  those,  to  whom  the  Holy  Spirit  g'ave 

To  speak  like  Christ,  oh  !  can  there  be  a  bar  ? 
For  Socrates  and  Buddha  if  there  be 
No  place  in  Heaven,  what  place,  alas  !  for  me  ? 

Let  us  adore  Thee  in  Thy  fulness,  Lord, 

With  the  Creator  on  Creation's  day. 
When  Thou  rejoiced  with  Him  in  full  accord, 

And  Morning-stars  commenced  their  joyous  way  : 

And  when  on  Calvary's  mount  the  palm  was  won 
All  was  completed,  and  God's  purpose  done. 


Eastbourne,  Sept.  26,  1893. 


CONTENTS. 


1.  Title-page 

2.  Dedication 

3.  Poem    ... 

4.  Contents 

5.  E.xordium 

6.  Classification  of  Subject 

7.  Motive  and  Plan 

Cap.  I.        A  Supernatural  Power 

Cap.  II.      Worship  of  such  a  Power  ... 

Cap.  III.    Manifestation  of  such  a  Power 

Cap.  IV.     Early  Human  Practices  and  Notions 

Cap.  V.       Records  of  Past  Generations 

Cap.  VI.     Religiosity  and  Morals 

Cap.  VII.   Progress  of  the  Human  Race 

8.  Concluding  Remarks ... 

9.  Poem    ... 

10.  Bibliography    ... 

11.  Index  of  Subjects,  Phrases,  Quotations,  Illustrations 

12.  Errata  ...  ...  ...  


XI 

xiii 

xxiii 

I 

15 

35 

74 

92 

112 

141 
156 
163 
iSi 
1S3 
187 
195 


E  X  0  R  D  I  U  M. 


He  was  sitting  in  his  Library,  in  the  decline  of  life :  inde- 
pendent in  fortune,  free  from  vulgar  cares,  he  had  throughout 
his  life  made  Science,  Absolute  Science,  his  object.  No 
coarse  vice,  no  moral  weakness,  had  troubled  him :  he  had 
been  spared  that  temptation  :  a  sound  constitution,  and  regular 
habits,  had  brought  him  through  seventy  years,  unbroken  in 
body  or  mind. 

With  the  help  of  Astronomy,  he  had  pierced  the  vault  of 
Heaven,  had  numbered  and  weighed  the  stars,  and  called 
them  all  by  their  names.  By  the  thread  of  Geology,  he  had 
forced  his  way  into  the  hidden  recesses  of  Mother-Earth,  and 
had  groped  his  way  back  to  Chaos  and  beyond.  He  had  drank 
deep  of  the  sweet  stores  of  Botany  and  Zoology,  and  had  been 
foremost  in  the  Study  of  Anthropology,  and  had  recognised 
to  the  full  the  principle  of  Evolution,  and  Natural  Selection. 
He  had  classified  the  Languages  spoken  in  every  part  of  the 
world,  and  traced  their  affiliation  back  to  their  different  seed- 
plots.  With  Electricity  he  had  spanned  the  round  world,  and 
dissatisfied  with  the  revealed  secrets  of  Nature,  he  was  always 
peering  through  half-opened  doors  to  catch  some  new  Fact,  or 
Idea.  He  had  tried  to  calculate,  how  long  this  world  had 
existed,  and  how  much  longer,  in  spite  of  the  continual 
expenditure  of  heat,  it  would  continue  to  exist.  He  had 
dropped  his  plummet  into  the  deepest  well,  and  had  found  no 
bottom. 

There  he  sat,  like  a  statue  of  Armed  Science,  waiting  for  More 
Light :  no  scoffing,  no  blasphemous  word,  had  ever  passed  his 
lips :  he  had  thought  kindly,   even  pityingly,  of  all,  deeming, 


(      xiv      ) 

them  to  be  blind,  or  to  be  walking  with  intentionally  closed 
eyes.  He  knew  from  experience  what  an  exacting  mistress 
Science  was,  and  how  easy  it  was  to  be  deceived,  and  he 
extended  to  the  vagaries  of  others  the  same  large-hearted 
charity,  which  he  gently,  but  unobtrusively,  claimed  for  his 
own.  No  Philosopher  was  ever  so  free  from  dogmatism,  so 
alien  from  the  bitterness  of  controversy,  so  devoid  of  Egotism, 
as  he  was  ;  so  modest  in  his  assertions,  so  ready  to  anticipate 
the  objections  of  others,  or  himself  to  suggest  objections  for 
the  purpose  of  exhausting  the  subject.  Like  the  late  Ernest 
Renan,  he  would  listen  to  the  speculations  of  others  with 
attention,  make  a  polite  bow,  and,  commencing  with,  "Je  suis 
tout  avec  vous.  Monsieur,"  proceed  politely  in  measured  tones 
to  tear  the  theory  propounded  to  atoms. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose,  that  men  of  Science  attack  Religion 
from  pure  malice,  for  it  is  to  be  feared,  that  they  do  not  think 
of  Religion  at  all :  they  are  led  on  in  spite  of  themselves  in 
search  of  absolute  tested  Truth.  The  real  contest  is  betwixt 
one  phase  of  Science  and  another,  betwixt  the  crude  knowledge 
of  yesterday  and  the  less  crude  knowledge  of  to-day.  The 
contest  is  merely  the  measure  of  the  difficulty  of  exchanging 
obsolete  notions  for  new  and  accurate  ones.  Our  ancestors 
transmitted  to  us  certain  notions,  which  they  honestly  and 
piously  entertained,  but  to  which  we  cannot  assent  without 
considerable  revision.  The  discovery  by  Copernicus  of  the 
rotation  of  the  globe  is  an  instance.  It  had  nothing  to  do  with 
man's  belief  in  God,  and  yet  at  the  time  of  the  discovery  it  was 
deemed  atheistic,  and  contrary  to  the  Scriptures. 

As  in  the  newly-discovered  ruins  of  an  ancient  city,  students 
occupy  themselves  in  digging,  and  sorting,  everything,  that  the 
spade  turned  up,  and  speculating  on  its  origin  and  object :  so  in 
the  pages  of  ancient  Manuscripts,  he  tried  to  look  below  the 
actual  written  words,  and  with  the  lens  of  Higher  Criticism 
try  to  find  out  the  motive,  the  environment,  the  materials 
available,  and  the  antecedents,  of  the  writer. 

Among  his  large  acquaintance  he  had  never  taken  intimate 
counsel  with  any :  he  was  not  a  thoughtless  observer :  he  had 
known  many,  who  all  their  life  had  been  worldly,  immoral, 
with  no  thought  of  ever  turning  to  their  Creator,  careless  of 
the  future,  unrepentant  of  the  past,  and  yet  Prosperity  of  every 
kind  had  accompanied  them  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  knew  of  good  men  and  women,  whose 
life  had  been  embittered  by  sorrow,  suffering,  want,  and  bereave- 
ment, the  result  of  the  errors  of  others.  He  read  in  the  papers 
of  hundreds  being  suffocated  in  a  mine,  drowned  in  a  shipwreck, 
or  crushed  to  death  in  a  railway  accident,  of  some  bright 
angel  of  purity  and  goodness  being  drowned  in  a  boat- accident. 


(       XV       ) 

He  thought  of  the  lines  of  the  Poet  Claudian,  written  1400 
years  before,  which  were  as  true  now  as  they  were  then  : 

Sajpe  mihi  dubiam  tenuit  sententia  mentem, 
Curarent  Superi  terras,  an  nullus  inesset 
Rector,  et  incerto  fluerent  mortaha  casu  : 
Nam,  cum  dispositi  quoesissem  foedera  mundi, 
Prccscriptosque  maris  fines,  amnisque  meatus, 
Et  lucis,  noctisque,  vices  :  tunc  omnia  rebar 
Concilio  firmata  Dei  : 
Sed  cum  res  hominum  tanta  caHgine  volvi 
Aspiciam,  Isetosque  diu  florere  nocentes, 
Vexarique  pios,  rursus  labefacta  cadebat 
ReHgio. 

(Claudian,  a.d.  400.) 

The  secret,  which  Claudian  could  not  find  out,  is  still  unsolved. 
We,  indeed,  ex  animo  believe,  that  there  is  a  God,  who  rules 
the  affairs  of  men  in  the  best,  and  wisest,  and  kindest  way;  but 
to  the  last  three  lines  there  is  no  reply.  The  old  clergyman's 
saw,  repeated  in  the  ears  of  widows,  and  orphans,  and  bereaved 
ones,  by  the  side  of  the  death-bed  of  the  loved  one,  does  not 
help  us. 

Nothing  remained  on  his  memory,  which  was  not  positive 
Fact,  or  logical  deductions  from  those  Facts.  As  to  the  past, 
he  admitted  the  existence  of  a  great  Building,  or  Institution, 
and  allowed  by  a  safe  induction  a  period  for  its  erection  and 
development.  As  to  History,  he  believed  nothing,  except  so  far 
as  the  statements  made  stood  the  test  of  his  scientific  evidential 
requirements.  He  had  never  cared  to  think  of  the  future  :  with 
his  favourite  Poet  Horace,  he  was  content  to  say  each  day 
"Vixi":  the  future  may  be  what  it  likes,  but  the  Deity  Him- 
self cannot  change  the  past.  He  knew,  that  by  a  physical  law 
all  must  die,  and  that  by  the  books  of  the  Actuaries  seventy 
was  above  the  average  of  lives ;  but  it  was  nothing  to  him. 

To  him  it  seemed  quite  reasonable,  that  in  the  course  of 
centuries  old  things  should  pass  away  in  the  Education  of  the 
world  in  things  spiritual,  as  well  as  in  things  material.  Morality, 
and  a  rule  of  things  absolutely  right  and  absolutely  wrong,  can 
never  change,  but  he  thought,  that  the  aspect  of  the  relation 
of  Man  to  God  could  change,  and  did  change  in  proportion,  as 
More  Light  was  vouchsafed  by  the  Creator  to  His  poor  creatures. 
This  made  him  wonder,  why  such  inapposite  selections  from 
the  Hebrew  Scriptures  were  read  in  Churches,  such  as  the 
Priestly  code,  which  had  passed  away,  the  immoralities  of  David 
and  Solomon,  the  cruel  massacres  of  defeated  enemies,  and  of 
Gentile  Priests,  the    conduct   of  Lot,   and  Jael,  the   slaughter 


(     xvi     ) 

of  women  and  children  ;  for  what  lessons  of  Faith,  or  Morals,  or 
Charity,  could  be  learnt  from  the  reading  of  such  fearful  stories, 
the  absolute  truth  of  which  it  is  a  labour  of  Charity  and  Pity 
to  doubt,  to  the  uneducated  or  imperfectly  experienced  people 
of  Great  Britain,  who  are  on  such  an  entirely  different  platform 
of  Ideas,  Human  and  Divine. 

He  was  one  morning  thinking  of  Wisdom,  and  he  read  the 
famous  passage  in  the  Proverbs  descriptive  of  'H  a^lij  'Eocpi'a, 
for  he  was  acquainted  with  all  the  Sacred  Books  of  the 
Human  Race,  and  was  up  to  the  level  of  the  latest  Exploration  : 
there  seemed  to  be  a  common  resting-place  in  the  conception 
of  the  Ao'705  as  expounded  by  Plato,  Philo,  and  the  Apostle 
John,  for  the  Christian,  the  neo-Jewish,  and  neo-Platonic, 
Philosophy.  He  thought  it  out  in  his  usual  calm,  earnest, 
thorough  way,  as  he  would  have  thought  out  the  description 
of  a  new  development  of  Electricity,  or  a  new  Region  dis- 
covered in  Geography,  or  a  new  Palceolithic  specimen.  There 
were  no  idols  of  the  Den,  of  the  Market-place,  of  the  Theatre, 
or  of  the  Temple,  to  obscure  his  vision  :  he  was  not  afraid 
of  logical  consequences,  or  reasonable  inductions  from  well- 
ascertained  Facts  :  he  was  not  afraid  of  finding,  that  he  had 
been  mistaken. 

This  threw  him  back  on  the  fundamental  conception  that  not 
to  be  born,  or  to  die  as  soon  as  possible  after  birth,  was  the 
kindest  lot.     The  lines  of  Theognis  came  to  his  mind : 

Ap^ijv  fieu  /Lirj  (j)vvai  iwcj^Ooviotaiv  upiaiov, 

M)'jS  eaite7v  av'^/a^  o^eo^  ijeXiov' 
(piwrao    oTTWi  WKtaTct  TrvXa^  Atoao  TrepTjffai, 

Kcil  KeiaOai.  7roWt)u  ryrjv  iTrajnijaafievoi'. 

His  thoughts  then  lifted  him  up  to  a  high  eminence,  whence 
he  could  survey  the  cities  of  men,  and  their  inhabitants  :  they 
looked  like  ants  and  ant-hills.  Bodies  Politic  called  States,  and 
Bodies  Ecclesiastic  called  Churches,  assumed  their  relative 
importance,  or  rather  want  of  importance,  in  the  great  pro- 
gression of  Man's  destiny:  History  and  the  cause  of  things, 
Geography  and  the  position  of  things,  Logic  and  the  reason 
of  things.  Wisdom  and  the  object  of  things,  appeared  stretched 
before  him.  Rising  to  a  still  higher  eminence,  he  stood  on 
the  lowest  steps  of  the  throne  of  Divine  Knowledge,  'H  07/7 
2o0/n,  and  saw  below  him  Creeds,  Dogmas,  Rituals,  things 
which  blind  the  wise,  and  hoodwink  the  unlearned  :  he  saw 
through  the  tricks  of  a  long  succession  of  Priesthoods ; 
through  the  hypocrisy  of  the  respectable,  and  those,  who  sail 
easily  with  every  wind  ;  through  the  gross  falsehood  of  the 
Dogmatist :  all  these  appeared  thick  and  murky,  like  the  banks 


(     xvii     ) 

of  clouds,  which  envelop  the  Lower  Alps,  but  Truth  shone 
out  like  the  Sun  above  all.  What  is  Truth  ?  Pilate  asked  the 
question,  but  received  no  reply :  the  Latin  anagram  tells  it : 

"  Quid  est  Veritas  ?"     "  Vir  est  qui  adest." 

He  was  fond  of  dwelling-  upon  the  extreme  opportuneness, 
both  in  time  and  place,  of  the  appearance  of  Christ  in  the  form 
of  man  :  looking  backwards  or  forwards  in  History  to  Abraham, 
1900  B.C.,  and  to  the  present  Epoch,  1900  a.d.,  no  Epoch,  and 
no  Locality,  was  so  suitable  per  se  for  the  enunciation  of  a 
worldwide  dispensation  as  Palestine  in  Anno  Domini. 

Not  only  was  the  Hellenic  genius  at  its  zenith,  and  the  Latin 
genius  developing  itself  as  a  worthy  rival  of  its  elder  sister,  but 
beyond,  in  an  unknown  region  beyond  the  Alps,  was  the  great 
Teutonic  Race,  which  had  just  found  its  way  into  Europe, 
and  was  standing  ready  to  accept  the  new  Religious  conception, 
clothed  in  the  bright  languages  of  Greece  and  Rome,  as  the 
foundation  of  their  spiritual  and  material  existences.  He  laid 
stress  on  the  mighty  change  in  the  whole  frame  and  attitude 
of  the  Human  mind  in  respect  of  Divine  Things,  which  com- 
menced from  that  date  its  march  literally  and  actually  over  the 
whole  world  ;  the  conception  of  a  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  a  divine 
Society,  the  individuality  of  belief,  and  yet  the  universality,  the 
extreme  necessity  to  all,  the  exclusion  of  none,  the  reasonable- 
ness, the  simplicity,  and  the  impossibility  of  suggesting  any 
other  scheme  of  Salvation. 

In  the  last  few  years  many  things  had  occupied  his 
thoughts.  A  transition-period  had  arrived  in  Religious  affairs: 
old  bulwarks  had  been  swept  away.  The  inhabitants  of  the 
most  distant  regions  of  the  world  had  begun  to  know  each 
other.  The  spade  of  the  excavator  was  exposing  to  view 
treasures  never  dreamt  of  in  the  shape  of  the  documents  of 
the  past.  New  worlds  of  Science  were  opening  round  young 
intellects,  to  which  Science  was  the  necessity  of  life.  He 
passed  then  under  review  : 

L  The  Geographical,  Ethnical,  and  Linguistic,  revelations. 
H.  The  larger  view  of  Historical  Research. 
HL  The  Comparative  Study  of  the  Religions  of  the  world. 
IV.  The  excavations  in  Egypt,  Mesopotamia,  Syria,  and  India. 

V.  The  Higher  Criticism  of  the  Old  Testament. 
VI.  The  fearless,  methodical,  scientific,  Spirit  of  Inquiry  in 
every  portion  of  the  great  Kosmos. 
VII.  A   deeper   moral   consciousness    of  the    relation  of  the 
Creator  to  all  His  poor  creatures  from  the  beginning 
of  the  ages  until  the  present  Epoch. 


(     xviii     ) 

When  he  read  the  History  of  the  ancient  nations,  and 
heard  the  bold  assertions  of  his  own  countrymen  as  to 
the-  spiritual  position  of  the  great  mass  of  mankind,  who  did 
not  agree  with  them  as  to  matters  not  of  Science,  but  of 
belief,  he  wondered,  and  this  day  that  he  was  meditating  on 
the  Wisdom,  'H  (h{ir]  '^ofjyta,  which  had  helped  the  Creator  to 
create  the  world  (Proverbs,  viii,  22),  he  fell  into  a  new  train  of 
thought,  carefully  keeping  to  Facts,  and  legitimate  deductions, 
that  it  seemed  a  disparagement  to  the  Wisdom  of  the  Creator  to 
imagine, 

I.  That  the  vast  mass  of  His  creatures,  in  countless 
generations  and  untold  Millions,  were  born,  lived, 
and  died,  without  the  opportunity  of  finding  the 
Truth  in  a  matter  deemed  by  themselves  to  be  most 
essential  to  their  welfare. 

11.  That  to  one  portion  of  the  great  world  alone,  and  for 
a  few  centuries  out  of  the  great  succession  of  years, 
the  Truth  was  believed  to  have  been  revealed. 

IH.  That  although  for  many  centuries  great  Nations  in  Asia 
had  labouredhard  in  the  search  for  Divine  Truth, 
all  their  stored-up  wealth  of  knowledge  was  nothing 
worth,  and  in  the  eyes  of  the  few,  who  asserted 
a  monopoly  of  Divine  things,  they  themselves  and 
their  ancestors  were  deemed  to  be  as  the  beasts 
that  perish.  This  seemed  to  him  very  strange,  and 
in  strong  contrast  with  the  words  of  Cicero,  "  Do 
Natura  Deorum,"  II,  66  : 

"  Nemo  vir  magnus  sine  aliquo  afflatu  divino  unquam  fuit." 

Such  were  his  reflections,  and  looking  forward  into  the  vista 
of  years,  and  backward  to  the  fountains  of  Historic,  and 
Religious,  Knowledge,  he  from  his  own  point  of  view  wondered, 
whether  future  ages  might  not  bring  further  development :  the 
Jew  thought  his  conception  final ;  the  Zoroastrian  thought 
"the  same  of  his  :  only  a  few  fragments  remain  of  either :  the 
Brahmanist,  the  Buddhist,  and  the  Confucianist,  still  count 
their  hundreds  of  Millions,  and  show  no  signs  of  moral, 
material,  or  intellectual,  decay.  From  the  Jew  had  sprung  the 
Christian  in  his  Millions ;  from  the  Christian  and  Jew  united 
had  sprung  the  followers  of  Islam;  from  Islam,  new  develop- 
ments (notably  the  Babi)  were  coming  into  existence,  and  the 
air  was  full  of  the  rustling  of  leaves,  and  the  rumbling  of 
earthquakes :    there    was   a   sound   of   advancing   conceptions, 


(     xix     ) 

and  new  Faiths  in  germ,  springing  up  from  old  roots ;  and  the 
hand  of  the  Intolerant  Persecutor,  which  made  such  havoc  of 
so-called  Heresies  in  early  centuries,  was  shortened  for  ever. 
So  far  the  world  had  made  a  solid  advance,  and  was  ready  for 
further  advances. 

He  adopted  the  sentiments  of  the  great  and  tolerant  author 
of  "  Ecce  Homo,"  p.  74,  "that  the  path  of  Christian  Truth  is 
"  overgrown  with  prejudices,  and  strewn  with  fallen  theories  and 
"  rotten  systems,  which  hide  it  from  our  view.  It  is  quite  as 
"  hard  to  think  rightly  as  to  act  rightly,  or  even  feel  rightly. 
"  Men  do  not  understand,  or  appreciate,  the  difficulty  of 
"  finding  Truth."  In  fact  some  men  do  not  think  at  all,  and 
raise  an  inane  cry  against  the  thinker.  He  used  to  quote  with 
approbation  a  sentence  from  the  Review  of  "  Ecce  Homo  "  by 
I\Ir.  Gladstone,  on  which  all  should  humbly  reflect :  "  The 
"  astounding  fact  of  the  manifestation  of  the  Lord  of  Glory 
"  in  the  veil  of  Human  flesh  may,  and  does,  stagger  in  some 
"  minds  the  whole  faculty  of  belief.  Happy  are  those,  who 
"  do  examine,  and  after  full  consideration  believe,  but  zue  cannot 
"  condemn  those,  who  do  not:  'Lord,  help  their  unbelief.'"  How 
different  is  the  practice !  "  Receive  it  as  a  little  child,"  shouts 
the  Protestant.  "  Believe  it  because  the  Pope  says  so,"  cries 
the  Jesuit.  "  Swallow  it  because  it  is  in  the  Veda,"  cries  the 
Brahmin.  "  Have  '  Imam,'  and  read  the  Koran,"  says  the 
Mahometan.  "Believe  nothing,  if  incapable  of  physical  proof," 
suggests  the  Agnostic.  "There  is  no  God,"  says  the  fool.  "If 
there  is  one,  he  cares  not  for  man,"  says  the  modern  Epicurean. 
"  Prove  all  things  by  the  help  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  is 
within  you,"  murmurs  the  humble  believer. 

He  used  sometimes  to  say,  that  he  had  more  in  his  intellectual 
structure  of  Erasmus  than  of  Luther :  his  desire  was  to  cut 
away  abuses,  and  reform  errors,  rather  than  pull  a  fabric 
down,  or  destroy  the  strength  of  a  great  organization,  which 
had  come  into  existence  for  purposes  of  Religion,  Morality, 
and  Benevolence,  by  breaking  it  up  into  fragments,  each 
fragment  bitterly  hostile  to  the  others.  The  Encomium  Morias, 
or  "  Praise  of  Folly,"  was  ever  his  delight,  and  some  of  the 
sentiments  of  the  great  mediaeval  Prophet  were  adopted  by 
him,  such  as,  "  the  party,  which  has  the  fools  at  its  back,  has 
usually  the  majority  of  numbers  "  ;  "  the  best  of  mankind  have 
been  called  heretics";  and  "men,  who  have  been  themselves 
reformers,  are  the  least  tolerant,  when  a  movement  takes 
a  form,  which  they  dislike." 

Strong  in  his  convictions,  that  the  present  generation  was 
heir  of  all  the  ages,  that  throughout  all  the  ages  one  increasing 
purpose  ran,  and  that  the  thoughts  of  men  grew  wider  with 
the   progress   of  the    Sun ;    that    Pythagoras,    Socrates,    Plato, 


(       XX       ) 

Zoroaster,  the  Hindu  Sages,  Buddha,  and  Kong-Fu-Tsee,  would 
have  done  larger  and  better  things,  had  they  had  deeper  and 
wider  experience ;  that  man  ought  to  profit  by  History,  and  not 
be  a  slave  to  it ;  that  a  so-called  Church,  appealing  to  ignorant 
people  in  dark  ages,  was  the  greatest  enemy  to  the  Manifestation 
of  the  Divinity,  which  is  ever  fresh  and  new  in  the  person  of 
Christ,  he  determined  to  collect,  in  a  cold,  unimpassioned,  way, 
the  Common  Features  of  Religious  Belief:  certain  things  he 
seemed  instinctively  to  loathe,  such  as  Dogmatism,  Priestcraft, 
Ritual,  Liturgical  recitations,  and  certain  things  to  love  (for 
Love  must  be  the  motive  power),  such  as  the  humble  prayer 
of  the  Publican,  the  cry  of  the  penitent  thief  on  the  Cross, 
the  words  of  Christ  on  the  Cross,  and  the  prayer  for  his 
murderers  by  Stephen. 

He  regarded  an  Establishment,  supported  by  the  favour  of  the 
State,  and  endowed  with  ancestral  Revenues,  for  the  benefit  of 
all  the  population  of  a  country,  but  in  the  lapse  of  years  appro- 
priated by  a  portion  only  of  that  population,  as  a  great  scandal, 
an  evil  inheritance  from  bad  old  times,  when  the  lust  of  a 
monarch,  or  the  caprice  of  a  ruling  faction,  tried,  as  in  the  days 
of  the  Kings  of  Israel  and  Judah,  to  modify,  restrict,  or  even 
forbid,  the  free  worship  of  an  ignorant  people.  The  Hindu 
and  Mahometan  in  British  India  are  in  a  better  plight  than  the 
Hebrews  were  in  the  times  of  the  Kings,  or  the  English  in  the 
time  of  Henry  VIII  and  his  two  daughters  :  a  hierarchy  appointed 
by  the  caprice  of  those  in  power,  the  sale  by  public  advertise- 
ment, or  private  contract,  of  the  right  to  give  Spiritual  teaching, 
the  retention  in  office  of  grossly  immoral  servants,  the  elevation 
of  the  Ecclesiastic  from  the  humble  position  occupied  by 
Christ  (Mark,  x,  43)  of  minister  or  "famulus"  (Castellio's 
Latin  version)  to  that  of  Rector,  or  Dominus,  or  Sacerdos, 
claiming  the  burial-ground  as  his  freehold,  in  which  he  can 
feed  his  sheep,  and  the  place  of  worship  as  a  spot,  in  which 
he  can  indulge  himself  in  any  new  Ecclesiastical  vagaries  of 
ornament,  or  practice,  without  any  respect  to  the  feelings  of  the 
congregation, 'who  were  sold  into  his  hands  for  the  term  of  his 
life  by  an  alien  impropriator,  a  capitular  body,  or  a  solicitor 
acting  for  a  bankrupt,  without  giving  the  poor  sheep  an  oppor- 
tunity of  objecting  to  his  appointment,  or  getting  rid  of  him 
as  a  bad  shepherd. 

From  the  wealth  of  his  note-books,  from  the  pigeon-holes 
of  his  well-stored  memory,  from  the  shelves  of  his  classified 
book-case,  from  the  pages  of  his  beloved  and  well-marked 
books,  from  the  carton-boxes,  containing  the  accumulated 
cuttings  from  periodical  literature,  and  extracts  from  favourite 
volumes,  from  letters  full  of  sympathy  and  suggestions  received 
from    some    few    chosen    ones,    to    whose    judgment    he    had 


(     xxi     ) 

submitted  portions,  according  to  tlieir  experiences,  of  his  rough 
drafts,  he  had  completed  these  pages,  and  had  paused  to  take 
breath,  but  before  they  had  passed  to  the  Press,  he  himself 
passed  away. 

After  completing  the  last  chapter,  he  fell  asleep  there : 

Suir  eterne  pagine 
Cadde  la  stanca  man. 

He  knows  the  Truth,  and  the  lohok  Truth,  now. 
Socrates  had  two  thousand  three  hundred  years  before  uttered 
among  his  dying  words  : 

"  KaXoj/  TO  uffXov,  Ka'i  y  'eX7rJ9  ^<erya\?^. 

So  by  God's  blessing  may  it  prove  to  us  all ! 

To  another  hand  it  has  fallen  to  carry  out  his  intentions. 
His  Essay  is,  no  doubt,  not  didactic,  as  the  outcome  of  a  master 
of  a  great  subject,  but  tentative  for  the  satisfaction  of  his  own 
mind.  The  great  teacher  has  made  up  his  mind,  and  in  the 
strength  of  those  convictions  makes  an  utterance  ex  cathedra : 
perhaps  after  the  lapse  of  twenty  years  his  edifice  will  fall  to 
the  ground  :  the  humble  inquirer  feels  his  way  as  he  goes 
along:  as  he  advances  in  his  task,  his  tone  matures,  or  his 
opinions  recede  ;  they  grow  with  the  growth  of  his  knowledge, 
or  dwindle  under  the  sudden  manifestation  of  new  facts  :  his 
work  is  one  of  self-instruction :  he  is  slow  to  enunciate  an 
opinion  ;  but  when  he  utters  the  words,  "  I  am  not  sure,"  his 
venturing  to  doubt,  and  not  to  condemn  at  once,  carries  more 
conviction  to  his  fellow-labourers  than  the  offhand  assertions 
of  others,  for  he  would  not  have  doubted,  if  he  had  been  sure 
one  way  or  the  other. 

He  had  adopted  to  the  letter  the  remarks  of  his  deceased 
friend,  Robertson  Smith  (Expositor,  June,  1894,  p.  472),  that 
"  all  History  was  the  expression  of  a  living  will :  it  was  the 
"  student's  business  to  go  fearlessly  ahead  in  honest  inquiry, 
"  because  every  addition  to  our  knowledge  of  Human  History 
"  is  a  further  step  towards  understanding  the  purposes  of  God." 

Comparisons  are  constantly  made,  and  by  very  imperfectly 
informed  writers,  between  the  Christian  and  non-Christian 
Religions,  the  Romish  and  Protestant  Churches,  and  always  in 
favour  of  the  particular  Religion,  Church,  or  denomination,  to 
which  the  writer  belongs : 

"Solos  credit  habendos 
Esse  Deos,  quos  ipse  colit." 

(Juvenal,  Sat.  xv.) 


(     xxii     ) 

But  few  care,  or  dare  to  ask  themselves  the  question :  how  far 
does  it  in  its  present  manifestation  answer  the  Great  Master's 
Ideal  ?  what  are  the  causes  of  its  early  success,  sudden 
arrestation,  and  the  decay  of  its  powerful  influence  for  good 
on  any  who  profess  to  be  Christians  ?  Humanum  est  errare : 
all  Human  institutions  are  liable  to  decay :  an  honest  man 
is  not  content  with  spying  out  the  shortcomings  of  other 
Religious  systems,  but  he  inquires  how  far  his  own  conception 
falls  short  of  the  great  Ideal. 


CLASSIFICATION    OF   THE    SUBJECT. 


Motives  and  Plan 

Cap.  I.  A  Supernatural  Power 

(i)  Existence  of  such  a  Power 

A.  Anthropomorphism 

B.  Monolatry  . 

C.  Monotheism 

D.  Polytheism 

(2)  Place  of  Residence  of  such  a  Power 

(3)  Theophanies,  Visions,   Dreams,    Good  and 

Evil  Spirits       ..... 

(4)  Primeval  Revelation  :  was  there  any  ? 

(5)  Substitution  of  Idols  made  by  Men's  Hand 

for  an  Impersonal  Divinity 

(6)  Fatherhood  of  God      .... 

(7)  Threats  of  Worshippers  uttered  against  thei 

gods         ...... 

Cap.  II.  Worship  of  such  a  Power    . 

(i)  What  is  it? 

(2)  Primeval 

(3)  Ancestral 

(4)  Sacrifice 

(5)  Prayer 

(6)  Ritual  . 

(7)  Priestcraft,  Witchcraft,  Exorcism 

(8)  Ceremonial  Cleanness,  or  Uncleanness 

(9)  Fasting,  Celibacy,  Asceticism,  Eremitism 

(10)  Feasting,  Day  of  Rest  . 

(11)  Esoteric,  or  Exoteric    .... 

Cap.  III.  Manifestation  of  such  a  Power  . 

(i)  Miracles       ...... 

(2)  Prophecies,  Auguries,  Ordeals 

(3)  National     Sins    and     Punishments,    Anger 

and   Hostility  of  the  Deity      . 

(4)  Signs  from  Heaven       .... 

(5)  Conception  of  Fate,  Nemesis,  'Epiwvs 


PAGE 

I 

15 

'5 
19 
20 
2 1 
24 
24 

25 
30 

31 

33 

34 

35 

35 
40 

43 
47 
53 
62 
66 
68 
69 
71 
71 

74 

74 
79 

85 
88 
90 


(     xxiv     ) 

PAGE 

Cap.  IV.            Early  Human  Practices  and  Notions  92 

(i)  Disposal  of  Dead 92 

(2)  Eschatology       ......  94 

(3)  Mutilation  or  Disfigurement  of  Body          .  109 

(4)  Strange  and  Abominable  Customs      .         .  iio 


Cap.  V.      Records  of  Past  Generations  . 

(i)  Written 

A.  Necessity  for  Higher  Criticism 

B.  Connection   between  Language  and 

Religion       .... 

C.  Advantages  derived  from  perusal  of 

Sacred  Books 

D.  Description  of  Sacred  Books    . 

E.  Was  there  a  Divine  Afflatus  ?     . 

F.  Blemishes   in    literary   style    of    th 

Books  .... 

(2)  Oral:  Tradition  .... 


1 12 
116 


122 
126 
130 

135 
139 


Cap.  VI.  Religiosity  and  Morals 

(i)  Morality     . 

(2)  Arm  of  the  Flesh 

(3)  Fanaticism 

(4)  Superstition 

(5)  Change  of  Belief 


144 

144 

H7 
552 
152 
153 


Cap.  VII. 


Progress  of  Human  Race 


156 


(i)  INIultiplication  and  Improved  Culture  under 

all  forms  of  Religious  Belief  .         .156 

(2)  Arts,     Sculpture,     Painting,    Architecture, 

Drama 160 


MOTIVES  AND  PLAN. 


The  object  was  to  note  the  common  features  of  that  attitude 
of  the  Human  Reason,  which  is  called  Religion,  comprising 
(i)  Customs,  (2)  Conceptions,  (3)  Dogma. 

The  elder  world  was  separated  into  all  but  unapproachable 
sections :  the  same  remark  may  be  made  with  regard  to 
barbarous  tribes  at  this  present  Epoch  :  they  borrowed  from 
their  neighbours  little  or  nothing,  and  lent  little. 

During  the  lapse  of  ages  no  Nation,  or  tribe,  has  gone  back 
in  its  Religious  conceptions :  there  are  signs  of  development 
everywhere,  in  ancient  times  from  their  own  fountain  of 
knowledge,  in  modern  times  from  contact  with  other  Nations. 
During  the  last  century  there  has  been  a  marked  process  of 
inter- comparison,  amalgamation,  the  result  of  contact  with 
Races  in  a  higher  state  of  civilization,  and  endowed  with  superior 
physical  force :  the  dead  silence  of  past  centuries  has  been 
broken ;  the  Intellect  of  the  whole  Human  Race  is  waking  up 
from  torpor :  it  does  not  follow,  that  it  will  be  to  the  advantage 
of  the  Human  Race  intellectually,  or  morally:  no  opinions 
are  given :  facts  are  recorded :  Galileo's  utterance  applies, 
"  E  pur  si  muove." 

The  conduct  of  the  Christian  Missionary,  Theologian,  and 
Historian,  as  regards  forms  of  Religious  belief  other  than  their 
own,  has  been  shameful  in  the  extreme  : 

"  Damnant,  quod  non  intelligunt"  : 

they  have  not  taken  time  to  study  the  subject,  they  give  no 
quarter  to  the  worshipper,  and  cover  the  Worship  with  ridicule; 
and  yet  the  homage  rendered  by  the  Soul  to  the  Unseen,  and 
Unknown,  Power,  that  governs  the  world,  is  always  worthy  of 
respect ;  at  least  Paul  thought  so,  when  he  addressed  the 
Athenians  on  Mars'  Hill,  and  Plato  and  Cicero  were  of  the  same 
opinion.  The  non-Christian  educated  classes  return  the  abuse 
of  their  Christian  assailants :  the  account  of  the  Christian 
Religion  by  a  Japanese,  or  Chinese,  scholar  after  a  visit  to 
England  would  be  a  fair  reply  to  a  young  INIissionary's 
description  of  Mahometans  published,  I  am  ashamed  to  say, 
in  the  periodical  of  a  Missionary  Society. 


(       2       ) 

Let  that  pass :  but  such  people  have  failed  to  fathom  the 
depths  of  the  Religious  element :  they  are  unacquainted  with 
Homer,  and  the  Greek  Tragedians  ;  with  Virgil,  Horace,  Seneca, 
and  Juvenal :  they  knew  nothing  first-hand  of  the  History,  and 
existing  practice,  of  the  Brahmanical,  Buddhist,  and  Mahometan, 
their  forms  of  Worship,  their  national  legends,  and  the  Religious 
conception,  which  underlies  them.  A  study  of  the  non-Christian 
Religion  is  not  without  use  in  the  study  of  the  Christian  Religion. 

Before  we  judge  the  non-Christian  world,  whom  we  do  not 
know,  let  us  analyse  the  Christian  world,  whom  we  do  know. 
They  may  be  divided  into  the  following  classes  : 

I.  Extremist :  ritualist,  if  High ;  sensationalist,  if  Low. 
H.   Real  and  undemonstrative. 

HL  Nominal :    (A)  for  form's  sake,  i.e.  Baptism,  Marriage, 

and  Funeral ;  (B)  those  who  have  cast  off  all  belief, 

yet  still   cling  to  Worship  for  fashion's  sake,  and  to 

Morality  for  the  sake  of  their  social  position. 

IV.  Theists,  Agnostics,  Theosophists. 

V.  Census-Christians,  utterly  without  any  Religious  feelings. 

Owing  to  very  strict,  and  strictly  enforced,  laws  in  civilized 
countries,  crime  against  person  and  property  is  kept  in  check. 
Before  we  condemn  others,  let  them  be  weighed  in  the  same 
scales,  and  subjected  to  the  same  civil  and  criminal  laws :  in 
India,  for  instance,  all  atrocious  crime  is  stamped  out,  under  the 
stern  principle,  that  nothing  can  be  theologically  right,  which 
is  morally  wrong.  Had  Abraham  attempted  to  kill  Isaac  in  an 
Indian  District,  the  police  would  have  interfered.  Had 
Ananias  and  Sapphira  been  disposed  of  in  an  Indian  District, 
the  local  IMagistrate  would  have  arrested  all  concerned.  Had 
Stephen  been  stoned  in  the  streets  of  Banaras,  the  young 
man,  who  held  his  clothes,  and  any  of  the  other  murderers, 
would  have  expiated  their  crime  on  the  gallows. 

A  comparative  study  of  the  Religions  of  Antiquity,  a  thing 
impossible  until  this  century,  has  widened  the  horizon  of  our 
Ideas,  and  has  so  thoroughly  established  the  Universality  of 
a  certain  amount  of  Central  Religious  Truth,  that,  if  we  found 
the  Decalogue  set  out  in  an  Assyrian  Tablet,  or  a  newly- 
translated  Book  of  the  Buddhists,  we  should  not  think  of 
literary  larceny,  but  of  a  common  inheritance. 

Let  me  be  bold  :  I  believe  in  the  innate  goodness  of  man 
to  a  certain  extent :  he  is  the  chef  d'oeuvre  of  the  works  of  the 
great  Creator:  I  pass  my  eyes  down  the  great  scroll  of 
the  Vegetable,  and  Animal,  World,  and  find  nothing  after  all 
so  excellent  as  man,  in  spite  of  all  his  failings,  weaknesses,  and 
errors  :  of  all  the  animals  he  is  the  only  one,  to  whom  the  Grace 


(       3       ) 

of  repentance  for  an  evil  act  is  given :  his  heart  turns  like 
a  sunflower  to  the  great  Creator:  when  the  Holy  Spirit  does 
penetrate  its  darkness,  it  becomes  full  of  light.  There  is  in  the 
Genus  Homo,  and  in  him  alone,  the  power  of  apprehending 
the  Infinite,  or,  at  least,  trying  to  do  so.  Whatever  may  be  said 
of  the  want  of  evidence,  or  the  unreasonableness  of  asking  for 
it,  man  alone  has  the  faculty  of  seizing  on,  and  believing  in,  an 
Unknown  Power. 

'Ai>0pw7ro9  is  interpreted  as  "  6  ui'w  ilOpwv.'^ 

It  is  neither  civilization,  nor  Revelation,  nor  Wisdom,  nor 
Morality,  that  does  this :  it  is  the  man,  and  it  is  evidenced 
in  the  lowest,  and  most  degraded.  Savage,  whom  we  are  obliged 
to  class  as  man,  and  who  yet,  so  far,  justifies  our  classification. 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  say,  or  imply,  one  word  against  the 
Truth,  the  reality,  the  power,  of  the  Christian  Religion  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century:  without  it  life  would  be  poor  indeed: 
let  me  enumerate  the  features  of  that  Religion : 

I.  The  Monotheism  of  a  Deity. 
II.  The  necessity  of  personal  Morality, 

III.  The  admission  of  sinfulness,  and  need  of  Salvation  by 

a  Saviour. 

IV.  An  indwelling  Holy  Spirit, 

V.  The  conception  of  Future  Rewards  and  Punishments. 
VI,  Love,  not  Fear,  governing  the  relation  of  the  Creator 
to  His  poor  children. 
VII.  The  worship  of  the  Creator  in  spirit  and  truth. 
VIII.  Complete  tolerance  of  the  belief  of  others. 

IX.  Doing   unto    others    what    we    should    wish    others    to 

do  unto  us. 
X.  Obedience  to,  and  an  abiding  Hope  in,  God,  and  Faith 

in  Christ. 
XI.  Love  to  our  neighbour  without  any  exception. 
XII.  Equality  of  both  sexes  in  this  world  and  the  next. 

Ever  and  anon  from  the  non-Christian  world  comes  up  some 
glimpse  of  the  admission  of  some  of  these  features,  as  will 
be  evidenced  in  the  following  pages,  but  some  are  totally 
absent :  none  more  so  than  tolerance  of  the  opinion  of  others : 
it  seems  so  strange,  that  the  Kings  of  Judah  should  have 
thought  themselves  at  liberty  to  change  backwards  and  forwards 
the  Religious  Worship  of  their  people,  oscillating  from  Hezekiah 
to  Manasseh,  and  from  him  to  Josiah :  the  Hindu  and  the 
Grjeco-Roman  were  ever  tolerant,  and  the  same  may  be  said 
of  the  Zoroastrian,  Buddhist,  and  Confucian  forms  of  belief;  but 
the  Christian  and  iNIahometan  have  been  intolerant  to  a  frightful 


(       4       ) 

extent,  using  the  Arm  of  the  Flesh  to  torture  and  slay  :  Arch- 
deacon Farrar  justly  remarks,  that  "  God  knows  of  no  orthodoxy 
"  but  the  Truth  :  the  attempt  to  identify  orthodoxy  with  pre- 
"  conceived,  and  purely  traditional,  opinion  is  rooted  in 
"  cowardice,  and  has  been  prolific  in  casuistry  and  disaster." 
(Expositor,  vol.  ix,  p.   ii.) 

Paul  quoted  one  line  only  of  the  far-famed  passage  of  Aratus 
from  the  Poem  <I>o(i'o/tGj/ft  (300  b.c.)  : 

eK  A109  ap-^wf^ierrda,  tov  ovBcttot    ui'Cpe^  iwfiev 
af)f)}]Tov  '  /iieaTai  Oe  At09  Traaai  /u.ei>  a<^fviai, 
TTuaaih  avOpwTTwv  a<yopai  '  fi,e(7T)j  ce  OciXaerffa, 
Kcii  \ijU€i'e9  '  '  irai'Trj  ce  Atos  Ke^ptnieOa  Travre'}' 
Tou  yap  Kcii  rjevo^  ia/Liev. 

Perhaps  the  sentiment  contained  in  the  last  half-line  was 
a  quotation  from  a  still  older  Poet,  for  we  find  it  again  in  the 
Hymn  to  Jupiter  by  Cleanthes,  who  also  lived  in  the  third 
century  B.C.,  and  the  solemn  earnest  beauty  of  these  lines,  which 
1  quote  below,  have  never  been  surpassed  by  any  Asiatic  or 
European  writer  of  any  period  : 

Ki»C((Tt'  aOai'cnici',  TroXvwi^vfic  TrayKpme^  atei, 
Zei',  (pvaeia  iipXTl^i   vo/uov  /nera  Trai'Tci  Kv/Sepvwi', 
')(^a?pe.      Se  '^Jfip  TrcwTeaai  Oej.Wi  6i'ijTo7ai  irpoaavcav. 
Ea:  aov  fy«/)  fyej/o?  efffiev,  «/ys  /iu/ntjiiia  Xa^oj/TC* 
Moyj'Ot,  oaa  ^wei  re  /cat  epirei  Oi'jjt    eVt  <^/atav. 
Tal  ae  KciOvTrinjaw,  Kal  gov  Kparo9  alev  aeiaw. 
2o<  crj  TTuv  oce  Koa/iio9  eXtffao/Liei'O'i  Trepi  <ya?ai' 
TletOerai  y  Kev  a"///?,  Kai  ckwu  vtto  ae7o  Kparrelrai^ 
Oi'de  Tt  r^i'^/veiai  ep'^oi'  eTii  ■^Ooi't  aov  Ci^a.,   (xujiiov, 
Ouoe  KUT    aiOepiov  Oelov  ttoXou,  oin    evi  ttoi'tw, 
YWijv  oTTocra  pe^ovai  kukoi  acperepijaiv  duoiais. 

Paul  was  not  like  so  many  Missionaries  of  modern  time, 
ignorant  of  the  sacred  books  of  the  Heathen.  The  Hindu 
books  are  as  great  or  greater  than  those  of  the  Greeks.  I 
could  quote  passages  from  them  of  the  most  lofty  character. 

Only  a  short  time  ago  Cardinal  Vaughan  quoted  the  follow- 
ing passage  from  Xavier :  "Who  can  sit  complacent  and  self- 
satisfied  at  home,  while  he//  t's  being  filled  ivith  the  souls  of  the 
Heathen}'''  This  seems  to  be  a  very  bold  assumption  with 
regard  to  the  Heathen,  and  a  Spaniard  of  a  nation,  red  with 
the  blood  of  Protestants  and  Jews,  might  be  more  reticent  as  to 
future  punishment  of  awful  sins. 

It  may  be  reverently  admitted,  even  by  those,  to  whom  Christ 
is  the  beginning,  centre,  and  end,  of  their  lives,  that  the  non- 
Christian  world  in  present  and  past  times  is  capable  of  receiving 


(       5       ) 

influence  from  God  :  the  Lord  hardened  Pharaoh's  heart,  and 
He  influenced  the  heart  of  Cyrus  in  favour  of  the  Jews  : 
"  Non  sine  Diis"  may  be  written  on  the  History  of  mankind. 
Socrates,  Buddha,  Kong-Fu-Tsee,  Zoroaster,  the  Hindu  Sages, 
received  a  supernatural  elevation  of  their  moral  and  intellectual 
faculties  :  in  fact,  they  were  favoured  through  the  fog  around 
their  generation  to  recognise  the  existence  of  Moral  Truth, 
and  to  see  God.  It  may  be  boldly  said,  that  each  one  of  us, 
who  allows  his  thoughts  to  wander  on  Heaven's  track,  whether 
in  the  wakeful  hours  of  the  night,  when  he  is  alone  with  God, 
or  in  his  solitary  walks,  when  he  is  alone  with  the  magnificence 
of  God's  Works,  or  when  he  is  alone  and  wrapped  up  in  thoughts 
of  God,  has  deeper  introspection  of  Truth,  a  sudden  lifting  up 
for  a  moment  of  his  aspirations,  for  the  Holy  Spirit  thus  works, 
and  in  all  times  has  worked,  with  the  Human  Soul :  we  must 
not  presume  to  shorten  the  hand  of  God  in  His  touch  of  His 
poor  children  of  elder  centuries,  or  heathen  environment  in 
modern  times:  if  it  were  His  will,  by  one  word  all  mankind 
could  be  brought  to  Christ  this  very  day.  Remember  Peter's 
words,  Acts,  x,  34,  35,  "no  respecter  of  persons,"  TrpoawTroXljTni^. 
Remember  Paul's  words  at  Athens  and  Lystra  :  he  did  not 
begin  his  message  of  a  new  Religion  by  denouncing  the  old, 
as  so  many  foolish  Missionaries  do  :  "  what  ye  ivorship  in 
ignorance  I  set  forth  unto  you." 

The  study  of  the  Religion  of  barbarous  tribes  is  even  more 
important  from  the  point  of  view  of  this  essay  than  that  of  a 
civilized  Nation,  In  the  latter  we  have  the  lucubrations  of  high 
culture  by  men,  who  thought  calmly  and  deeply,  such  men  as 
Socrates  and  Biiddha :  there  is  more  of  man,  and  less  of  God. 
In  the  latter  it  is  the  unadulterated  touch  of  God  upon  the 
intellect  of  poor,  uneducated  man  :  but  for  God  it  would  not 
have  existed.  We  may  venture  to  say,  that  not  Moses  only,  but 
Plato,  and  his  like,  were  in  their  own  degree  Traicw^/wr'/oi  i(9  xp'<^toi'. 

Religious  convictions,  words,  and  practices,  should  never  be 
laughed  at :  to  do  so  indicates  an  irreligious  mind  :  the  exhibition 
of  Idols  brought  home  from  Africa  at  Missionary  Meetings,  in 
order  to  raise  a  smile  on  the  ignorant  members  of  the  lower 
second  class,  or  Sunday-school  children,  is  a  disgrace.  Place 
such  objects  away  in  Museums  alongside  of  the  Ark  of  the 
Covenant,  and  the  seven-branched  candlestick,  and  the  Palladium, 
and  the  tripod  of  Delphi,  and  the  Brazen  Serpent,  and  the  Two 
Tables  of  Stone,  when  they  are  found.  Religion  even  in  a  mis- 
taken form  is  one  of  the  highest  outcomes  of  the  Human  Race  : 
we  know  what  Atheism  and  Agnosticism  mean.  The  feeling  after 
God,  if  haply  you  could  find  him,  ennobles  the  Human  Race. 
A  competent  author,  Max  Miiller  (Science  of  Religion,  p.  263), 
writes  :  "  The  intention  of  Religion,  wherever  we  meet  it,  is  holy  ; 


(       6       ) 

"  however  imperfect  and  childish  it  may  be,  it  always  places  the 
"  Human  Soul  in  the  presence  of  God  :  however  imperfect  and 
"  childish  may  be  the  conception  of  God,  it  always  represents 
"  the  highest  ideal  of  perfection,  which  the  Human  Soul  at  the 
"  time  being,  with  reference  to  its  environment,  can  reach,  and 
"  grasp.  It  places  the  Human  Soul  in  the  presence  of  its 
"  highest  Ideal ;  it  lifts  it  above  the  level  of  ordinary  goodness, 
"  and  produces  at  least  a  yearning  after  a  higher  and  better  life, 
"  a  life  in  the  light  of  God." 

The  messages  conveyed  by  the  different  non- Christian 
Religions,  if  properly  looked  at,  all  converge  in  due  time  in  the 
more  complete  message  of  the  Gospel.  We  hardly  sufficiently 
admit,  how  much  mankind  owes  to  Plato,  and  to  the  doctrines  of 
Buddha.  Both  these  epoch-making  individuals  lived  centuries 
before  Anno  Domini,  and  left  their  mark  upon  Oriental,  and 
Occidental,  thought,  never  to  be  effaced.  It  is  stated,  and  truly 
stated,  that  the  Religion  of  Christ  has  been  paganized,  but 
in  that  Paganism  there  were  Messages  of  Humanity,  Brother- 
hood, Self-Sacrifice,  zeal  for  the  Souls  of  others  than  their  own 
Race,  general  benevolence,  which  the  Hebrew  never  knew,  and 
knows  not  to  this  day  :  having  broken  his  law  before  the  Exile, 
he  kept  it  on  his  return  to  Palestine  according  to  his  lights,  and 
hugged  himself  as  an  inheritor  of  Promises ;  but  he  cared  not  a 
straw  for  the  rest  of  the  world,  which  might  go  in  darkness  for 
all  that  concerned  him :  he  was  cruel  beyond  the  cruelty  of 
other  Nations  :  he  left  no  single  Monument  of  Art  or  Science : 
he  made  no  single  discovery  to  enlighten  the  world :  in  an 
epoch  of  Inscriptions  on  stone,  and  brick,  metal,  and  papyri,  he 
left  nothing,  but  the  one  book  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  but 
for  the  Greek  Translation  made  at  Alexandria,  he  would  have 
withheld  that  from  the  eyes  of  the  Gentile,  if  he  had  been 
able  :  he  perished  out  of  his  own  land  eighteen  centuries  ago, 
while  the  lordly  Races  of  Eastern  Asia  have  maintained  their 
tenets,  and  their  Worship,  to  this  day.  It  has  been  the  fashion 
to  exalt  the  Hebrew  above  other  Nations,  because  of  him  came 
Christ  after  the  flesh,  and  to  him  was  committed  the  oracles 
of  God  ;  but  the  mighty  Nations,  and  civilizations,  of  Greece, 
Rome,  India,  and  China,  were  in  all  things,  moral  and  material, 
infinitely  superior  to  the  insignificant  Hebrew. 

With  regard  to  Buddha,  much  has  been  written,  and  some 
rash  assertions  made  :  if  it  be  alleged,  that  any  portion  of  the 
teaching  of  the  New  Testament  was  derived  from  the  teaching 
of  Buddha,  a  direct  negative  may  be  emphatically  given  on  the 
grounds  of  the  absence  of  contact ;  but  with  regard  to  Socrates 
and  Plato,  bearing  in  mind  the  existence  of  Jewish  colonies  at 
Alexandria,  and  everywhere,  the  reply  must  be  made  with 
hesitation  :    no  assertion  is   made,   but   a   negative   cannot  be 


(      7      ) 

recorded  on  the  ground  of  want  of  possible  contact.     I  quote 

the  following  expressions  of  opinion  : 

"  Plato  was  regarded  by  the  Early  Fathers  in  the  light  of 
'  another  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  Justin  Martyr,  Jerome, 
'  Lactantius,  all  speak  of  him  as  the  wisest  and  greatest  of 
'  philosophers.  Augustine  calls  him  his  converter,  and  thanks 
'  God,  that  he  became  acquainted  with  Plato  first,  and  the  Gospel 
'  afterwards.  Eusebius  declared,  that  he,  alone  of  all  the  Greeks, 
'  had  attained  the  Porch  of  Truth.  It  is  easy  to  understand  the 
'  grounds  of  this  feeling.  Passages  from  his  dialogues  might  be 
'  multiplied  to  prove  that  close  similarity,  which  exists  between 
'  them  and  the  Scriptures,  especially  the  Pentateuch.  The 
'  picture  of  the  ideal  Socrates,  preaching  Justice  and  Temperance, 
'  and  opposing  the  self-assertion  of  the  Pharisee  of  his  age  ; 
'  the  humility  of  the  earnest  inquirer,  and  soberness  of  Truth  ; 
'  his  declaration  at  his  trial,  that  he  will  obey  God  rather  than 
'  men,  and  fear  not  those,  who  are  only  able  to  kill  the  body ;  the 
'  description  of  the  just  man  persecuted,  scourged,  tortured, 
'  and  finally  impaled  :  such  passages  serve  to  explain  the  prayer 
'  of  Erasmus,  who  added  to  the  invocation  of  the  Saints  in  his 
'  library,  '  Sancte  Socrates,  ora  pro  nobis,'  and  the  belief  of  so 
'  many  of  the  Fathers  that  Plato,  like  St.  John  the  Baptist,  was 
'  a  forerunner  of  Christ. 

"  Again  : 

"  (i)  The  faith  in  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul, 
"  (2)  The  pollution  of  Sin, 
"  (3)  The  likeness  of  Virtue  to  God, 
"  (4)  The  idea  of  a  word  sown  in  the  heart, 
"  (5)  The  parable  of  the  Cave,  and  the  Light  of  the 
Upper  World, 

"  might  be  quoted  to  show  the  foreshadowing  of  Christianity  so 
"  often  traced  to  Plato. 

"  Add  to  this  the  remark,  that  men  should  persevere  in  search 
"  of  the  Truth,  taking  the  best  of  Human  words  to  bear  them  up, 
"  as  on  a  raft,  through  the  stormy  waters  of  life  ;  but  their  voyage 
"  on  this  frail  bark  would  be  perilous,  unless  they  might  hope  to 
"  meet  with  some  securer  stay,  some  Word  of  God,  it  might  be. 
"  Augustine  thought  that  Plato  might  have  listened  to  Jeremiah 
"  in  Egypt."     (Plato:  Clifton  Collins,  p.  193.) 

Cardinal  Wiseman  remarks  in  Callista,  p.227  :  "Religion  could 
"  not  be  without  hope.  To  worship  a  being,  who  did  not  speak 
"  to  us,  recognise  us,  love  us,  was  not  Religion  ;  it  might  be 
"  a  duty,  or  a  merit,  but  the  instinctive  notion  of  Religion  is  the 
"  Soul's  response  to  a  God,  who  has  taken  notice  of  the  Soul : 
"  it  was  a  living  intercourse,  or  a  mere  name." 

In  the  lately  discovered  monuments  of  Egypt  and  Assyria  we 


(       8       ) 

can  see  the  ancient  monarchs  offering  tribute  to  their  tutelar 
deities,  Amen  Ra,  or  Ashur :  can  we  think  that  Religion  was 
not  to  tiiem  a  positive  fact  ? 

Bishop  Westcott  writes  :  "As  each  Nation  contributes  some- 
"  thing  to  the  Fulness  of  the  Life  of  Humanity,  and  something  to 
"  the  knowledge  of  Man's  powers,  so  is  it  with  the  manifestation 
*'  of  Religious  belief  and  aspirations.  The  Religious  History 
"  of  the  World  is  the  Soul  of  History.  The  natural  voice  of 
"  humanity  proclaims  with  no  uncertain  sound,  that  God  hath 
"  made  himself  known  in  various  ways  at  various  times." 
(Gospel  of  Life,  p.  109.) 

"  Noble  principles  are  found  in  the  teaching  of  all  Religious 
"  systems ;  that  God  is  the  author  of  all  Truth,  and  all  right 
"  impulses  even  in  heathen  minds,  is  readily  admitted." 
(Ellinwod's  Oriental   Religion,   p.   224.) 

The  early  Greek  Fathers,  especially  Justin  Martyr  and  Clement 
of  Alexandria,  realized  the  fact,  that  there  was  a  work_/tfrand  of 
God  going  on  during  the  apparent  isolation  of  the  heathen  from 
that  narrow  Hebrew  Region,  in  which  the  Spirit  had  revealed 
Him.  Justin  says,  that  the  Truths  in  the  utterance  of  Heathen 
Poetry  and  Philosophy  are  due  to  the  fact,  that  a  seed  of 
the  Word  is  inborn  (e/<0j'Toi')  in  every  Race  of  man.  Those,  who 
grasped  the  Truth  according  to  the  portion  of  the  seed  in  them, 
just  as  Christians,  lived  according  to  the  knowledge  and  con- 
templation of  the  whole  Word,  that  is  to  say  Christ;  in  fact,  that 
Socrates,  Heraclitus,  and  those  like  them,  and  Abraham,  and 
Elias,  were  Christians  before  Christ  in  the  flesh,  though  Christ 
indeed  was  tt/joto'to/cos  tj)?  KTiae.w<s.  (Gospel  of  Life,  pp.  116,  117.) 
It  is  indeed  a  Godless,  and  non-Christian,  conception  to  hold, 
that  all  the  Nations  of  the  world,  who  have  not  embraced  the 
Religion  of  Christ,  are  outcasts,  forgotte^i  by  God.  Are  they 
not  rather  waiting  their  appointed  time  ? 

I  quote  extracts  from  the  pages  of  a  well-known  writer,  from 
whom  1  differ  in  many  things,  yet  agree  in  this  (Max  Muller's 
"  Science  of  Religion,"  1873,  p.  224) : 

"  We  admire  the  temples  of  the  ancient  Rome  in  Egypt, 
Babylonia,  Greece,  and  Italy  :  can  we  call  the  Deities,  to  whom 
they  were  consecrated,  mere  idols  and  images,  and  class  such 
men  as  Pericles,  Phidias,  Socrates,  Plato,  Cicero,  Marcus 
Aurelius,  as  worshippers  of  stocks  and  stones  ?  Neither 
Art,  nor  Poetry,  nor  Philosophy  could  have  been  possible 
without  Religion.  If  we  believe,  that  there  is  a  God,  who 
created  Heaven  and  earth,  and  ruleth  all  by  His  unceasing 
Providence,  we  cannot  believe,  that  Millions  of  Human 
beings  were  in  the  time  of  their  ignorance  so  utterly 
abandoned,  that  their  Religion  was  a  falsehood,  their  whole 
life  a  mockery,  their  Worship  a  farce." 


(       9       ) 

And  there  were  such  men  as  Socrates,  Epictdtus,  Seneca, 
Plato,  Gautama  Buddha,  and  Kong-Fu-Tsee. 

Justin  Martyr  remarks  (Apol.  ii,  83,  "Survivals  in  Christianity," 
p.  50)  that  "men  of  every  Race,  that  Socrates  and  others, 
were  Christians  because  they  lived  according  to  Reason,  which 
is  the  Divine  Word  immanent  in  the  world." 

I  quote  the  opinion  of  another  writer  on  the  subject  : 
"The  great  Religious  conceptions  of  the  world,  with  the 
"  exception  of  Judaism  and  Christianity,  have  hitherto  been 
"  treated  by  Historians  and  Theologians  with  the  greatest 
"  unfairness.  Every  act  in  the  lives  of  their  founders,  which 
"  showed,  that  they  were  but  men,  has  been  eagerly  seized 
"  upon,  and  judged  without  mercy  :  many  of  their  doctrines 
"  have  been  distorted :  acts  of  Worship,  merely  because  they 
"  differed  from  the  preconceptions  of  the  writer,  have  been 
"  held  up  to  ridicule  and  contempt.  The  consequence  has 
"  been,  that  Christianity  has  been  torn  away  from  the  sacred 
"  context  of  the  History  of  the  World.  The  History  of  the  non- 
"  Christian  Religious  conceptions  represent  to  man  the  Divine 
"  Education  of  the  Human  Race." 

Philo  writes:  "Goodness  and  kindness  were  the  final  causes 
of  all  Creation."  It  is  no  new  idea  to  claim  for  the  poor 
heathen  sonship  of  God  :  Mutianus  Rufus,  a  Canon  of 
Gotha  before  the  Reformation,  wrote :  Quid  alium  est  verus 
Christianus,  verus  Dei  filius  quam,  ut  Paulus  dicit,  "  Sapientia 
Dei,"  quae  non  solim  adfuit  Judceis  in  angusta  Syriae  regione, 
sed  Grsecis,  et  Italis,  et  Germanis,  quamquam  vario  ritu 
Religionem  observarentur.  (Hibbert  Lecture  :  Beard — Reforma- 
tion, p.  50.) 

Read  the  following  quotation  from  a  Review  thirty  years  old : 
"  The  Apostolic  age  bears  witness,  such  as  no  other  age  has 
"  borne,  to  the  depth  and  vitality  of  those  Religious  Truths, 
"  which  rest  on  the  greatest  realities  of  the  Universe.  They 
"  have  been  buried  for  centuries  under  a  hard  incrustation 
"  of  Human  Dogmatism,  till  the  deep  life  beating  within  is 
"  scarcely  perceptible  any  longer.  Christianity  will  then  re- 
"  sume  its  Apostolic  fervour,  when,  going  back  to  the  original 
"  fountain  of  Faith  in  the  Human  Soul,  and,  renouncing  the 
"  fruitless  controversies  about  forms  of  opinions,  which  derive 
"  their  value  from  intellectual  needs  of  different  minds,  it  shall 
"  throw  itself  once  more  without  distrust  and  reservation  on 
"  that  Eternal  Religion  of  the  heart  and  conscience,  which  is 
"  the  utterance  of  God's  Spirit  within  us,  which  Christ  once 
"  acted  in  the  narrow  circle  of  Palestinian  life,  and  which  His 
"  followers,  believing  in  the  perpetuity  of  heavenly  life,  have 
"  been  striving  for  nearly  2000  years  to  spread  over  the  world." 

Dean    Stanley  writes:    "The  thoughts  of  man  have  grown 


(       10      ) 

"wider:  we  have  learnt,  that  Religion  can  be  degraded,  when 
"  it  loses  the  vivifying  and  elevating  contact  of  every-day  life. 
"  Ecclesiastical  degradation  means  Spiritual  decay  :  the  chief 
"  object  of  Religion  is  to  teach  us  the  right  way  of  living 
"  the  true  life  of  man."     (Lectures,  1867,  p.  xvi.) 

Archbishop  Trench,  in  his  Hulsean  Lecture,  1846,  p.  136, 
writes:  "I  would  fain  show,  that  it  would  be  a  grievous 
*'  deficiency,  if  our  Christian  faith  as  concerns  the  whole 
"  ancient  world,  except  the  Jewish,  stood  in  relation  to  nothing, 
"  which  men  had  hitherto  thought,  or  felt,  or  hoped,  or 
"  believed ;  rested  on  no  broader  historic  basis  than  the  Jewish 
"  Religion  would  supply.  It  will  be  profitable  to  enquire, 
"  whether  we  may  not  contemplate  the  relations  of  the 
"  absolute  Truth  to  the  ancient  Religions  of  the  world  under 
"  an  aspect,  in  which  we  shall  cease  altogether  from  regarding 
"  with  suspicion  these  apparent  anticipations  of  good  things 
"  given  us  in  Christ ;  in  which,  instead  of  being  secretly 
"  embarrassed  by  them,  and  hardly  knowing  exactly  how  to 
"  deal  with,  or  where  to  range  them,  we  shall  joyfully  accept 
"  these  presentiments  of  the  Truth,  so  far  as  they  are  satis- 
"  factorily  made  out,  as  enhancing  the  greatness  and  the  glory 
"  of  the  Truth  itself;  and  as  being,  so  far  as  they  are  allowed 
"  to  have  any  weight,  confirmations  of  it." 

Archbishop  Benson,  at  Exeter  Hall,  Nov.,  1893,  spoke  thus: 
"  No  doubt  there  is  scarcely  a  Religion,  in  which  you  cannot 
"trace  something  that  is  above  Humanity;  but  how  does  our 
"  Lord,  and  how  did  His  Apostles,  treat  that  Fact  ?  Have  they 
"  not  made  it  plain,  that  all  notions  of  God  in  the  past,  attained 
"  by  the  light  of  Nature,  as  we  call  it,  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  that 
"  is,  stirring  and  lighting  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world, 
"  were  all  a  preparation  for  that  complete  Religion,  which 
"  it  takes  Humanity  long  ages  to  prepare  for.  Why,  the  very 
"  fact,  that  He  died  for  all  men  is  sufficient  to  establish  the  right 
*'  of  all  men  to  know  the  Fact.  If  a  great  inheritance  is  left 
"  to  a  man,  is  it  not  a  matter  of  common  honesty,  that  he  should 
•'  be  informed,  that  this  inheritance  is  his  ?  It  is  the  very 
"  nature  of  the  way,  in  which  God  has  given  us  this  knowledge, 
"  that  man  should  only  know  it  through  man.  He  does  not 
"  reveal  it  in  lightnings  upon  the  skies,  but  reveals  it  from  man 
"  to  man,  from  lip  to  lip.  That  is  the  only  way,  in  which 
"  man  could  possibly  know  that,  which  it  is  the  right  of  every 
"  man  to  know,  because  this  Fact  of  Christ  is  theirs." 

Mr.  Lefroy,  of  the  Delhi  Mission,  1894,  is  very  bold,  and 
reflects  the  feeling  of  all,  who  think  deeply  and  lovingly  of 
the  poor  heathen  in  past  and  present  times :  "  We  hold,  that 
"  there  is  no  Nation  in  the  world,  which  has  been  omitted  from 
"  the  Providence  and  discipline  of  God,  no  Nation,  in  which 


(     n     ) 

"  He  has  left  Himself  without  a  witness  finding  its  expression, 
"  however  distorted  or  perverted,  in  their  creed  and  thoughts, 
"  no  Nation  therefore  which  cannot  find  in  Christ,  not  the 
"  destruction,  but  the  fulfilment  and  completion  of  all  that 
"  is  best  and  truest  in  the  past." 

Bishop  Westcott  writes  :  "  It  seems,  as  if  a  careful  examination 
"  of  the  Religious  teaching  of  representative  Masters  of  the  West 
"  would  help  towards  a  better  understanding  of  the  Christian 
"  Creed."     (Religious  Thoughts  in  the  West,  1891  :  Preface.) 

A  mistaken  burst  of  occasional  piety  on  the  part  of  the 
Hebrews,  with  long  intervals  of  gross  Idolatry,  and  a  steady 
refusal  of  Christians  to  look  into  the  matter,  free  from  pre- 
judice and  fanaticism,  has  until  this  generation  led  them  to 
condemn  all  the  Religious  conceptions  of  the  elder  world, 
and  declare,  that  the  beliefs  and  Worship  of  the  non-Christian 
world  at  the  present  day,  is  nothing  but  a  master-work  of  Satan. 
Considering  that  the  population  of  the  world  is  1400  Millions, 
and  that  only  one-third  are  even  nominal  Christians,  it  would 
seem,  that  the  strong  man  is  out  of  possession  of  his  own 
house,  and  that  the  hand  of  the  Ruler  of  the  Universe  is 
shortened.  Can  this  be  so  ?  What  are  the  Facts  }  The  early 
Nations  were  essentially  pious,  feeling  after  their  great  Creator, 
if  haply  they  could  find  Him  ;  if  they  were  Agnostics,  they  were 
unwillingly  so  from  lack  of  knowledge,  and  not  from  a  per- 
verted superfluity  of  knowledge.  A  congenital  Instinct  had 
been  granted  to  Man  to  utter  articulate  sounds,  and  turn  to 
his  great  Creator  even  as  the  sunflower  turns  to  the  sun.  "  Self, 
the  World,  God,"  indicates  the  relation,  which  man  occupied  to 
his  fellow-men,  and  the  great  Unknown  :  Language  in  the 
one  case,  and  Religion  in  the  other,  was  the  mode  of  com- 
munication. The  Egyptian,  Indo-Iranian,  Graeco-Latin,  Kelt- 
Teuton-Slav,  recognised,  and  bowed  to  the  Power  of  Nature, 
the  Strong  One,  whose  might  was  felt  to  be  irresistible,  con- 
stant, unchanging,  and  orderly,  in  its  operation,  yet  full  of  pity, 
tender  mercy,  and  benevolence ;  providing  for  their  wants  by 
the  luxuriant  abundance  of  the  Earth  and  the  Water.  They 
had  no  doubt  of  the  presence  of  an  eternal  and  active  Intelli- 
gence, whom  they  tried  in  their  weak,  foolish,  way  to  conciliate. 

I  quote  the  sentiments  of  an  accomplished  writer  :  "  As  we 
"  study,  we  begin  to  see,  what  ought  never  to  have  been 
"  doubted,  that  there  is  no  Religion  without  God,  and,  as 
"  Augustine  of  Hippo  expresses  it,  there  is  no  false  Religion, 
"  which  does  not  contain  some  elements  of  Truth."  We  may 
return  the  compliment,  that  there  is  no  form  of  the  One  True 
Religion,  which  has  not  some  false  elements  clinging  to  it, 
the  remanet  of  the  conception,  out  of  which  it  was  developed. 

It  is  bold  to  state,  and  dangerous  to  weak,  narrow,  minds  to 


(       12       ) 

hear  the  statement,  that  our  Heavenly  Father  has  manifested 
Himself  to  His  poor  children  at  all  times  and  in  all  places  in 
the  mode,  in  which  He  knew  that  the  state  of  the  intellectual 
culture  of  each  exalted  them  to  comprehend.  Rightly  or 
wrongly  (I  think  wrongly),  the  first  work  of  the  modern  JMis- 
sionary  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  is  supposed  to  be  to  teach 
his  converts,  or  inquirers,  to  read  and  write,  to  give  them 
a  cheap  surface -Education,  and  introduce  them  to  printed 
literature ;  it  is  assumed,  that  the  oral  teaching  of  the  Master, 
and  His  Apostles,  and  of  the  early  centuries,  would  not  enable 
the  neo-Christian  to  advance:  this  shows  that  to  the  modern 
notion  Culture  precedes,  or  accompanies,  the  Christian  Faith. 
Culture  is  the  outcome  of  Peace,  Wealth,  orderly  government, 
tolerance,  and  justice  between  man  and  man.  This  is  possible 
in  the  Nineteenth  Century  :  was  it  within  the  comprehension  of 
the  elder  world  ?  How  intolerant  were  the  kings  of  Israel  and 
Judah  !  What  shall  be  said  of  the  Hebrew  people  down  to  the 
assassination  of  Stephen  ?  It  is  clear,  that  admitting  fully  that 
the  Religion  of  the  Hebrews  was  specially  ordained  by  God 
for  that  petty  Nation,  which  was  never  destined  to  rise  beyond 
the  position  of  a  Slave-Nation,  in  a  very  low  state  of  Culture, 
passing  from  the  bondage  of  the  Egyptians  into  that  of  the 
Philistines,  Assyrians,  and  Babylonians,  and  afterwards  of  the 
Persians,  Greeks,  and  Romans,  until  their  utter  extinction  as 
a  Nation,  and  the  supercession  of  their  Religion  by  a  later 
conception,  that  later  conception  was  suited  to  a  state  of 
Society  much  higher  advanced  in  the  scale  of  Culture,  and 
calculated,  by  its  freedom  from  all  local  ties,  when  the  wall  of 
separation  of  one  Nation  from  another  was  dashed  down,  with 
its  sweet  reasonableness,  and  holy  elasticity,  to  dominate  the 
Globe,  though  that  event  seems  now  entirely  out  of  all  Human 
calculation,  and,  owing  to  the  vast  annual  increase  of  the  non- 
Christian  population,  at  the  rate  of  twelve  Millions  annually, 
to  be  utterly  out  of  all  reasonable  expectation. 

Nor  was  the  dispensation  to  the  Jews  ever  intended,  as  far 
as  can  be  judged  from  the  words  of  Isaiah  and  the  other 
Prophets,  or  permitted,  to  be  permanent.  The  Religious 
conceptions  of  the  Zoroastrian,  Hindu,  Buddhist,  and  Con- 
fucianist  have  existed  for  nearly  three  thousand  years,  but  the 
Mosaic  dispensation  at  the  best  only  lasted  fourteen  hundred 
years,  and  in  B.C.  397  Malachi,  the  last  of  the  Prophets,  uttered 
the  following  words : 

"  I  will  be  great  among  the  Heathen,  says  the  Lord  ;  in  every 
place  incense  shall  be  offered  in  My  name  from  the  rising  to 
the  going  down  of  the  Sun."  The  introduction  of  the  term 
"incense"  precludes  the  application  of  the  words  to  the 
Christian  Religion,  where,  except  in  degraded  forms  of  Worship, 


(       13       )  . 

incense  has  no  place  either  in  precept  or  practice.  Viewed  in 
that  light,  the  scorn,  and  want  of  sympathy,  with  which  the 
modern  Missionary  treats  the  pious  non-Christian  worshipper 
of  his  ancestral  Faith,  is  a  cause  of  surprise :  it  arises  from  the 
Egotism,  and  Albocracy,  of  the  modern  Teuton  and  Latin 
Races,  and  not  from  the  precepts  of  the  Holy  Religion,  which 
they  are  commissioned  to  convey. 

More  appalling,  and  confounding  all  expectations,  is  the 
new  crop  of  Religious  conceptions,  of  error,  which  stand  in 
the  way  of  Conversion  to  Christianity,  much  more  spiritual 
than  the  older  conceptions,  and  accompanied  by  the  highest 
Morality :  the  Aria-Somaj,  the  Brahmo-Somaj,  Theosophism, 
Mormonism,  the  Hau-Hau  of  New  Zealand,  Agnosticism, 
Unitarianism.  In  the  early  centuries  of  Christianity,  there 
were  the  worshippers  of  Isis,  and  the  Great  Mother,  Mithraism, 
Manichceism,  but  they  were  hunted  down,  and  extirpated,  by  the 
Christians.  Such  unchristian  violence  cannot  be  used  now : 
the  majority  of  the  new  conceptions  of  the  Nineteenth  Century 
put  forth  the  desire  to  worship  a  pure  God,  to  live  a  pure  life, 
to  consider  all  men  as  brothers :  this  platform  represents  a 
mighty  advance  of  the  conception  of  Religion  in  its  broadest 
sense,  but  on  non-Christian  lines. 

We  must  be  prepared  for  one  thing:  all  Religious  conceptions 
are  made  for  man,  all  mankind,  free  from  all  degrading 
necessities,  such  as  circumcision,  tattooing,  caste-marks,  and 
connection  with  Idolatrous  survivals,  such  as  the  Arabian  Kaaba- 
Stone :  History  tells  us,  that  when  a  world-wide  conception 
impinges  on  different  Races,  on  different  rounds  of  Culture,  with 
different  historical  and  political  environment,  it  does  not  lose 
its  originality,  but  adapts  itself:  the  different  Churches  of  Asia, 
North  Africa,  and  Europe,  differed  materially  in  their  external 
form  :  the  great  sin  of  the  Church  of  Rome  was  the  desire  to 
introduce  uniformity,  and  submission  to  a  so-called  Vice-Regent 
of  God,  an  erring  man,  aided  by  a  most  corrupt,  self-seeking, 
Council :  it  has  notably  failed  :  it  would  be  folly  on  the  part 
of  any  Protestant  Church  to  attempt  to  act  in  this  way.  The 
Negro  Churches  of  West  Africa,  the  Churches  in  South  India, 
South  Africa,  the  Extreme  Orient,  and  Oceania,  will  never 
submit  to  such  a  domination. 

The  following  great  Truths  have  been  worked  out,  and  it 
cannot  be  denied,  that  the  ancient  Religious  conceptions,  which 
preceded  the  great  Anno  Domini,  contributed  to  the  great  store, 
of  which  the  Nineteenth  Century  is  heir : 

I.  The  Unity  of  God. 
II.  The  Spirituality  of  Religion. 
III.  The  Substitution  of  Prayer  for  Sacrifice. 


(       14       ) 

IV.  The  Highest  Conception  of  Morality. 
V.  The  great  gift  of  Self-Sacrifice. 

VI.  The  Hope  of  Immortality,  or,  in  other  words,  the  Sound 
of  Glory  ringing  in  our  ears. 

The  unique  characteristics  of  the  Religion  of  Christ,  being 
based  on  Faith,  lie  outside  the  orbit  of  this  Essay,  which 
accepts  nothing  incapable  of  scientific  proof,  or  reasonable 
deductions  from  ascertained  facts. 


(       15       ) 


CAP.   I.     A   SUPERNATURAL  POWER. 


1.  Existence  of  such  a  Power. 

A.  Anthropomorphism. 

B.  Monolatry. 

C.  Monotheism. 

D.  Polytheism. 

2.  Place  of  Residence  of  such  a  Power. 

3.  Theophanies,  Visions,  Dreams,  Good  and  Evil  Spirits. 

4.  Primeval  Revelation:  was  there  any.? 

5.  Substitution  of  Idols  made    by  men's  hands   for  an   im- 

personal Divinity. 

6.  Fatherhood  of  God. 

7.  Threats  of  worshippers  uttered  against  their  gods. 

I.   Existence  of  such  a  Power. 

It  may  with  great  confidence  be  asserted,  that  no  Race  of 
men,  however  degraded,  has  been  found,  who  have  not  a  more 
or  less  distinct  conception  of  a  Power  greater  than  themselves, 
whether  for  good,  or  for  evil,  whom  it  is  their  interest  to 
conciliate,  and  their  duty  to  obey. 

Bishop  Philip  Brooke  writes  thus:  "The  Messenger  of 
"  Christianity  finds  some  consciousness  of  the  fact,  that  the 
"  world  belongs  to  God,  wherever  he  goes.  No  land  is  so  dark, 
*'  that  there  is  not  some  such  light  there.  No  brutal  savagedom 
"  so  savage,  that  in  some  breast  of  nobler  sort,  or  it  may  be, 
"  kept  only  in  some  fantastic  rite,  whose  spiritual  meaning  has 
"  long  been  lost,  there  is  not  uttered  some  craving  for  the  true 
"  nobility  of  servantship  to  God.  It  cannot  be  explained 
"  away." 

Peter,  the  Apostle,  admits  the  fact :  **  In  every  Nation  he.  that 
feareth  Him,  and  worketh  righteousness,  is  accepted  with  Him." 
(Acts,  X,  35.) 

Paul,  the  Apostle,  remarked:  "Who  in  times  past  suffered 
all  Nations  to  walk  in  their  own  ways."  "  He  left  not  Himself 
without  witness."     (Acts,  xiv,  16,  17.) 


(       16      ) 

Bishop  Westcott  remarks  in  his  Gospel  of  Life  (1874,  p.  19) : 
"  Christianity  assumes  as  its  foundation : 

"  (i)  The  existence  of  an  Infinite  Personal  God. 
"  (2)  The  existence  of  a  finite  Human  will. 

"  This  antithesis  is  assumed,  and  not  proved.  No  arguments 
"  can  establish  it.  It  is  a  primary  intuition,  not  a  deduction  ; 
"  it  is  capable  of  illustration  from  what  we  observe  around 
''  us  :  but,  if  either  proposition  be  denied,  no  reasoning  can 
"  establish  it." 

The  Latin  Poets  teem  with  quotations,  indicating  that  the 
existence  of  God  is  recognised,  that  He  controls  the  affairs 
of  men,  that  it  is  wise  to  obey  God,  that  it  is  impious  to  deny 
Him  or  oppose  Him :  it  may  be  summed  up  in  the  apophthegm : 

"  Nihil  humanarum  rerum  sine  numine  geritur. 
Nihil  Diis  invitis  fieri  potest."     (Bible-Echoes,  p.  189.) 

"  Divina  prudentia  agitur  mundus." 

What  was  inexorable  Fate  with  the  Graeco-Latin  Races, 
"  Mo;/3o,"  "  necessitas  "  .?  What  in  ver}'  truth  was  "Karma" 
with  the  Buddhist,  though  he  declared  that  there  was  no  God  ? 
"  Fata  negant  "  :  "  Sic  voluere  Parcae,"  say  Virgil  and  Horace, 
when  in  despair  on  the  subject  of  undeserved  affliction,  or 
unmerited  prosperity.  Homer  writes,  Iliad,  I,  5,  Ato?  0' 
i-reXeteTv  ^ovXrj.  The  Indian  mind  reached  to  a  lower  depth  : 
it  admits  the  guilt  of  the  sufferer  in  past  life  as  all  the 
cause  of  his  trouble ;  he  anticipates  the  reward  of  the  innocent 
in  the  next  life. 

Herodotus  was  essentially  a  Religious  man :  speaking  of  the 
rumour,  which  ran  through  the  Greek  Army  at  Mycale,  on  the 
morning  of  the  battle,  of  a  victory  gained  the  same  day  at 
Plataea,  he  says:  "Many  things  prove  to  me,  that  the  gods 
take  a  part  in  the  affairs  of  men,"  and  yet,  about  450  B.C., 
the  gods,  under  the  infiuence  of  Philosophy,  were  departing 
from  their  Grecian  temples  :  it  is  reported,  that  Herodotus  was 
present  in  the  Theatre  of  Bacchus  at  some  of  the  great  dramas, 
and  he  would  then  have  heard  the  Divine  Voice  in  some  one  of 
the  great  utterances  of  the  actors,  or  the  chorus.  He  must  have 
felt  ovdev  ilvev  tHw  Qcwv  ;  but  what  those  gods  were  he  did  not 
venture  to  speculate :  he  was  too  wide  a  traveller,  and  too  deep 
a  thinker,  for  that. 

The  Idea  of  God  may  be  shrouded  in  darkness,  but  it  is  there : 
Professor  Legge  writes,  that  the  Idea  of  one  God,  and  one 
only  God,  existed  among  the  Chinese  from  the  earliest  time, 
though  it  has  been  doubted  by  some  writers,  and  is  certainly 
obscured  by  the  degraded  conceptions  of  later  ages.      Nature 


(      17      ) 

was  conceived  to  be  a  manipulation  of  a  great  Power,  and 
peopled  with  Spirits  in  subordination  to  Him. 

We  must  recollect,  that  the  name,  by  which  the  Great  Power 
is  known,  is  unimportant.  By  many  names  men  knew  Him: 
Jehovah,  Jove,  Lord,  Shaddai,  Elohim,  Allah,  Mah^swara,  Bog, 
Deus,  0e69,  Khuda,  Gott :  in  China  they  cannot  get  beyond  the 
word,  which  represents  the  Heavens.  The  character  attributed 
to  Him  is  of  the  prime  importance.  All  other  names  are  but 
the  shadow  of  the  reality.  The  Fatherhood  of  God  stands 
confessed  in  the  words  of  Homer,  Zeu  Trdrep ;  of  Virgil, 
"  Hominum  pater  atque  Deorum." 

Hear  Bishop  Selwyn  the  younger:  "In  all  ages,  and  in  all 
"  Races,  men  have  felt  after  this  great  Truth  :  God  has  not  left 
"  Himself  without  a  witness,  and  the  Human  heart,  led  by  that 
"  witness,  whether  internal  or  external,  has  always  stretched  out 
"  its  hands  (it  may  be  unconsciously)  towards  the  Fatherhood 
"  of  God.  The  teaching  of  Christ  is  its  very  highest  revelation  : 
"  '  Our  Father,  which  art  in  Heaven.'  In  place  of  all  the 
"  countless  Spirits,  which  they  believe  in,  we  tell  them  of  the 
*'  one  great  omnipotent  God,  who  made  the  world  :  when  they 
"  have  grasped  this  truth  in  some  measure,  we  tell  them  in  the 
"  name  of  Christ,  that  God  is  our  Father,  and  that  His  name 
"  is  Love."     (Ramsden  Sermons,  Cambridge.) 

Driver  remarks,  on  pp.  302,  303  of  his  Introduction  to  the 
Old  Testament,  that  the  fact,  that  God  has  pity  on  all  Nations, 
is  taught  in  the  Book  of  Jonah  ;  and  the  last  verse  of  that 
Book  indicates,  that  God  has  pity  on  the  cattle  also,  as  well  as 
ignorant  men. 

Those,  who  have  studied  the  great  dramas  of  the  Greek 
Tragedians,  must  feel  that  they  are  in  the  presence  of  those 
Deities,  whom  the  Athenians  worshipped.  The  Tragedians  would 
not  dare  place  in  their  mouths  words  unworthy  of  them.  Truth, 
Purity,  Retribution  for  sin,  obedience  to  the  Divine  Will :  these 
are  the  watchwords :  the  audience  accepted  with  reverence  the 
oracles  of  their  God,  the  words  of  the  '  Deus  ex  machina.'  Their 
view  of  life  is  stern  and  severe  :  individual,  family,  Nation  : 
their  moral  is  always  good  :  sorrow  follows  sin  :  vengeance  will 
certainly  find  out  the  offender,  though  a  long  time  is  allowed 
to  elapse :  with  the  same  measure,  that  a  man  metes,  it  will  be 
measured  to  him  again:  suffering  is  the  only  road  to  true 
happiness,  if  it  comes  in  the  path  of  Duty.  The  Hindu  sages 
elaborated  the  Idea  still  more  fully.  In  the  grand  Epics  of 
Homer  and  Virgil  the  Immortals  above  are  as  fully  occupied  in 
planning,  and  contriving,  as  the  poor  mortals  below.  Another 
view  of  the  subject  is  presented  in  the  utterances  of  Isaiah, 
Jeremiah,  and  Ezekiel :  it  is  taken  for  granted,  that  they  were 
commissioned   by   Jehovah    to   make    certain    utterances :    the 


(       18       ) 

mode,  in  which  the  message  came  to  them,  is  not  stated  :  the 
word  of  the  Lord,  *' dabar  Yahveh,"  came  to  them. 

The  question,  of  course,  arises  to  thoughtful  minds  :  are  we 
in  the  Nineteenth  Century  a.d.  further  off  from  God  than  these 
Prophets  in  the  sixth  century  B.C.  ?  The  Deity  no  longer  appears 
in  Human  form :  the  age  of  myths  and  legends  has  passed  : 
Prophecy,  Miracles,  Theophanies,  Signs  from  Heaven,  are  no 
longer  in  harmony  with  the  Human  intellect :  but  God  is 
very  nigh  unto  us,  for  all  that,  for  all  that:  He  is  in  our  midst, 
when  we  assemble,  and  our  bodies  are  the  temples  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  The  old  machinery,  and  manner  of  speaking,  have 
passed  away. 

In  the  Egyptian  papyri  and  Inscriptions  we  read  of  such 
a  Power  (Hibbert  Lecture:   Renouf,  p.  25): 

(i)  To  whom  no  temple  is  raised. 

(2)  Who  was  not  graven  on  stone. 

(3)  Whose  shrine  was  never  found  in  painted  figures. 

(4)  Who  had  neither  ministrants  nor  offerings. 

(5)  Whose  abode  was  unknown. 

But  that  Power  was  practically  in  the  course  of  centuries  lost 
sight  of.  We  meet  in  the  Texts  such  phrases  as  this:  (i)  the 
Self-existing  one,  (2)  the  Self-becoming  one,  (3)  the  One,  the 
One  of  Ones,  (4)  the  One  without  a  Second,  (5)  the  beginners 
of  becoming  from  the  first,  (6)  the  One,  who  made  all  things, 
but  was  not  made. 

I  read  the  following  Inscription  on  a  Temple  of  Neith,  at  Said 
in  Egypt  (Sacred  Anthology,  p.  65)  : 

"  I  am  that,  which  has  been,  which  is,  which  will  be,  and  no 
one  has  yet  lifted  the  veil,  which  covers  me." 

"  Nuk  pa  nuk  :   I  am  that  I  am."     (Hibbert  Lecture  :  Renouf.) 

Some  think,  that  AOjuy  is  a  transposition  of  Neith.  (Raw- 
linson's  Herodotus,  II,  ph.  106,  107.) 

Dr.  Ginsburg  writes,  that  the  Moabites  felt  towards  Chemosh 
the  same  feelings  as  the  Hebrews  to  Yahveh,  attributing  to  His 
anger  their  defeats,  to  His  favour  their  victories  :  this  phrase 
is  retained  in  some  modern  prayers  as  the  husk  of  an  Idea, 
which  has  long  died,  but  it  was  a  very  present  Idea  in  the 
ancient  world. 

Religion  is  the  one  universal  feature  in  the  History  of  man- 
kind, and  the  annals  of  no  country  introduce  us  to  Atheism, 
or  Agnosticism :  quite  the  contrary :  we  find  the  existence  of 
a  Religion  and  a  God,  patent  everywhere. 

The  Azteks  of  Mexico  recognised  the  existence  of  a  Supreme 
Creator,  and  Lord  of  the  Universe.     (Prescott,  I,  p.  52.) 


(       19       ) 

The  Idea  of  a  Divinity  is  indeed  the  solution  of  the  per- 
plexity of  existence  :  it  comes  by  intuition,  not  by  observation, 
and  gradually  develops  ;  it  does  not  require  Science,  or  Phi- 
losophy, to  point  out  the  Deity;  in  the  elements,  in  the  en- 
vironment, on  Earth,  in  Heaven,  He  is  there,  and  no  place  can 
be  pointed  out,  where  he  is  not.  By  introspection  the  lowest 
savage  works  out  the  syllogism  of  self,  the  world,  or  the  rest 
of  mankind,  except  himself,  and  something  outside  the  world, 
and  self,  but  which  controls  all,  and  is  God. 

A.  Aiithropomorphism. 

Nothing  strikes  the  reader  more  painfully  than  this  feature 
in  the  Old  Testament :  of  course,  it  stands  out  as,  or  even  more, 
conspicuously  in  other  forms  of  Religious  conception.  Moses 
goes  so  far  as  to  arrange,  that  the  Deity  should  only  exhibit 
"  his  hinder  parts "  :  but  throughout  we  hear  of  the  Deity 
having  ears,  limbs,  even  weaknesses  such  as  anger,  inlirmities 
such  as  hate,  love,  hardness  of  heart,  wrath,  even  revenge  ; 
vacillation  of  purpose,  repentance  (Driver,  O.T.  p.  114):  this 
cannot  be  explained  by  any  reason  such  as  the  vagueness  of 
Oriental  expressions,  or  poetical  license,  or  mistaken  transla- 
tion :  Elijah  twits  the  Priests  of  Baal,  that  their  gods  could 
not  hear.  Even  down  to  the  present  epoch.  Anthropomorphism 
has  not  been  got  rid  of. 

In  other  Religious  conceptions,  the  gods  were  actually  men 
with  lusts  and  passions,  partialities  and  prejudices.  With  rare 
exceptions  Idols  are  made  in  Human  form  entirely,  as  Rama, 
and  Krishna ;  or  partially  as  Ganesa,  with  the  head  of  an 
elephant,  and  Diana  of  Ephesus,  a  hideous  monster. 

The  Idea  of  the  Deity  making  a  covenant  with  His  poor 
creatures  is  a  Human  conception,  and  even  now  in  Christian 
praver  we  have  such  expressions  as  "let  your  ears  be  open  to 
the  prayers  of  your  servant  ;  your  protecting  hand,  your 
observant  eye":  of  course  it  means  nothing  beyond  this,  that 
man  cannot  form  a  conception  of  the  Deity  except  through  the 
known  feature  of  poor  Human  Nature.  The  Asiatic  makes  his 
god  a  dark  brown.  The  African  makes  his  god  black;  the 
European  naturally  adopts  a  white  colour. 

Anthropomorphism  seems  to  be  an  essential  of  all  early 
Religion.  Man  in  his  earliest  stage  worshipped  stocks  and 
stones  in  their  natural  form :  this  was  called  Fetichism.  As  he 
arrived  at  the  conviction,  that  he  himself  was  the  centre  of 
animal  existence  ;  as  he  found  no  other  animal  equal  to  him  in 
strength  and  cunning,  in  articulate  speech,  in  the  power  of 
leaving  tokens  behind  by  marks  on  the  sand,  and  broken  twigs 


(       20       ) 

in  the  forest,  so  that  others  coming  after  him  could  understand 
his  message;  as  he  became  dimly  conscious  of  the  possession 
of  five  senses,  and  the  gift  of  accumulating  experience,  he 
could  no  longer  worship  a  brute  beast  (though,  strange  to  say, 
the  highly-cultured  Egyptians  did  so),  and  he  could  invest  the 
Deity,  the  creation  of  his  intellect,  and  Religious  instinct,  with 
no  form  of  higher  dignity  than  the  one,  which  he  himself 
possessed :  the  eye,  the  ear,  the  mouth,  the  nose,  the  hand. 
Then  the  shapeless  stone  assumed  the  rough  Idea  of  the 
Human  form:  the  Old  Testament  tells  us  that  "that  form  was 
in  God's  own  Image." 

B.  Monolairy. 

Many  narrow-minded  religionists,  even  to  this  day,  get  an 
idea,  that  God  is  their  God,  their  peculiar  God,  who  manages 
their  affairs,  who  cares  for  them  :  this  is  their  Faith,  a  selfish  form 
of  Faith  :  a  Protestant  would  scarcely  admit,  that  it  is  the  same 
God,  who  is  Father  of  His  Roman  Catholic  children,  and  of  the 
non-Christian  world  :  the  Jews  had  the  same  conception  ;  they 
were  before  the  time  of  Josiah,  not  Monotheists,  but  "  Mono- 
latrists,"  or,  as  some  call  it,  "  Enotheists  "  :  Yahveh  was  their 
God,  and  looked  after  them  :  they  had  heard,  that  other  tribes 
had  Baal,  Rimmon,  Chemosh,  Ashtoreth :  they  did  not  deny 
this :  but  their  God  was  God  of  all  gods,  who  had  power  to 
influence  Gentile  INIonarchs,  such  as  Cyrus  and  Darius,  in  the 
interest  of  His  people  (i.e.  themselves).  Gradually  they  came 
out  of  this  fog:  we  hear  no  more  of  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob,  except  for  purposes  of  argument  as  regards  a  Future 
State ;  but  Nehemiah  is  represented  as  praying  at  Shushan 
to  the  God  of  Heaven,  the  same  title,  which  Cyrus  had  given 
Him  (II  Chron.  xxxvi,  23). 

Do  Christians  reflect  on  this  ?  God  is  not  the  God  of  the 
Christians  only.  Christ  did  not  die  for  the  Christians  only,  but 
for  the  whole  world.  It  would  be  questioning  God's  wisdom  and 
justice  to  assert,  that  the  great  people  of  India  and  China  were 
condemned  to  everlasting  punishment,  because  they  knew  not  the 
God  and  Saviour,  who  had  never  been  preached  to  them.  Nor 
can  we  attribute  to  the  machinations  of  Satan  the  existences  of 
the  great  Religions  of  China,  India,  Persia,  Mesopotamia,  Egypt, 
Greece,  and  Rome  :  the  first  verse  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
teaches  another  lesson.  God  was  not  left  without  a  witness 
even  in  the  childhood  of  the  world,  and  it  is  the  mark  of  an 
arrogant,  degraded,  unchristian,  spirit,  to  denounce  the  Religious 
weaknesses  of  Nations,  who  never  had  the  chance  of  being 
Christians. 

When  we   reflect  calmly  on  the  Features  of  the  great   Book- 


(       21       ) 

Religions,  and  the  mass  of  non-Christian  Ideas  and  customs 
absorbed  into  itself  by  so-called  Christianity,  which  is  so  far 
from  the  Gospel  taught  in  Palestine,  and  preached  by  the 
Apostles,  when  we  consider  the  loathsome  sins  of  sinners  in 
Christian  cities,  such  as  London,  we  may  as  well  pause,  for  as 
far  as  concerns  the  masses  Christianity  has  miserably  failed  : 
and  who  are  we,  the  most  drunken  Nation  in  Europe,  to  throw 
dirt  upon  the  Mahometan,  and  the  ancient  conceptions  of 
India  and  China,  whom  the  Lord  of  the  world  has  permitted  to 
exist  for  three  thousand  years  ?  had  it  pleased  Him,  they  might 
have  passed  away  like  the  beautiful  conceptions  of  Greece 
and  Rome. 

In  the  fourth  volume  of  Renan's  posthumous  work,  1893 
(p.  131),  appears  the  following  : 

"  The  Deutero-Isaiah  had  held  out  a  prospect  to  all  Nations 
to  enter  Jerusalem :  Ezra  and  his  successors  closed  the  door. 
Jehovah  became  again  the  peculiar  property,  and  the  exclusive 
right,  of  the  Hebrews  ;  their  own  particular  Deity  reappeared, 
a  very  Egoistical  Deity,  according  to  their  views,  very  perverse 
and  hostile  to  all  the  Human  Race,  except  His  Chosen 
People,  very  unjust  to  all  the  rest  of  His  poor  children.  The 
Thora,  as  introduced  by  Ezra,  was  merely  a  scheme  to  bribe 
Jehovah  by  strict  observance  of  certain  rituals  to  get  certain 
good  things  at  His  disposal :  the  caprice  of  this  particular 
Deity  had  to  be  satisfied  by  services  of  hymns,  by  compli- 
ments to  His  Glory,  and  in  return  for  the  pleasure  provided 
for  Him  He  would  give  all  the  good  things  of  the  world  : 
and  much  was  to  be  done  by  His  influencing  the  hearts 
of  the  men  of  this  world,  who  held  the  physical  force  of 
Empire,  on  whom  He  was  supposed  to  have  a  direct 
influence,  though  they  were  not  His  people." 
If  anyone  doubts  the  Monolatrism  of  the  Hebrews,  let  him 
consider  the  title  "God  of  all  gods";  and  Psalm  Ixxxvi, 
8,    10: 

"  Among  the   gods  there   is  none  like  unto  Thee,   O  Lord  ; 
there  is  not  one  that  can  do  as  Thou  doest." 
"  Thou  art  God  alone." 

Whatever  was  the  date  of  this  Psalm  the  utterances  are 
not  those  of  one,  who  is  a  Monotheist,  to  whose  mind  the 
existence  of  any  other  gods  would  be  an  absurdity. 

C.  Monotheism. 

Just  at  the  same  time  that  it  was  brought  home  to  Isaiah, 
that  the  God  hitherto  called  God  of  Israel  was  the  only  God, 
and  that  there  was  none  but  Him,  the  same  line  of  reasoning 


(       22       ) 

led  him  to  perceive  that,  if  that  point  were  conceded,  He  must 
be  the  God  of  all  Mankind,  Gentile  as  well  as  Jew  :  that  word 
Gentile  came  into  existence  in  Isaiah's  time  :  the  elder  Hebrew 
had  no  thought  beyond  his  own  Nation,  and  a  contemptuous 
hatred  to  all  outside. 

There  was  another  result  of  Monotheism,  a  faint  conception 
of  the  Perfection  of  the  Deity :  the  Human  mind,  when  it 
arrived  at  the  first  Idea,  passed  on  to  the  further  conception, 
that  one  so  Powerful  must  be  the  Ideal  of  Perfection  as  regards 
Human  qualities,  the  very  essence  of  Righteousness,  the  very 
type  of  Sympathy,  the  impersonation  of  Law,  Justice,  Love, 
and  Pity.  According  to  the  Ideal  thus  formed  of  their  Divinity 
would  be  the  permanence  of  their  Faith,  and  the  desire  to 
develop,  and  grow  into  His  Likeness.  From  this  conception 
developed  the  Idea  of  a  Future  State,  not  such  as  is  painted 
by  Homer,  but  one  of  Rewards  and  Punishments:  the  Indian 
Sages  got  over  this  ethical  difficulty  by  the  conception  of  the 
transmigration  of  Souls  to  a  higher  or  lower  sphere  according 
to  the  tenour  of  the  life  spent. 

What  grander  description  of  the  Infinite  Deity  can  be  cited 
than  this  quotation  from  the  great  Sanskrit  Poem,  Raghuvansa, 
by  Kalidasa,  the  greatest  of  the  Indian  Bards  ? 

"  He  sat,  that  awful  Deity,  in  state  : 
"  His  throne  encircling  heavenly  armies  wait ; 
"  Around  His  head  celestial  rays  were  shed  ; 
"  Beneath  His  feet  His  conquered  foes  were  spread  ; 
"  To  Him  the  trembling  gods  their  homage  brought : 
"  Incomprehensible  in  word  or  thought. 

"  O  Thou,  whom  threefold  might  and  splendour  veil, 
"  Maker,  Preserver,  and  Destroyer,  hail  ! 
"  Thy  gaze  surveys  this  world  from  clime  to  clime, 
"  Thyself  immeasurable  in  space,  or  time  : 
"  To  no  corrupt  desires,  no  passions  prone, 
"  Unconquered  Conqueror,  infinite,  unknown. 
"  Though  in  one  form  Thou  veil'st  Thy  might  divine, 
"  Still  at  Thy  pleasure  every  form  is  Thine  : 
"  Pure  crystals  thus  prismatic  hues  assume, 
"  As  varying  lights,  and  varying  tints,  illume. 
"  Men  think  Thee  absent:  Thou  art  ever  near, 
"  Pitying  those  sorrows,  which  Thou  ne'er  can'st  fear. 
"  Unsordid  penance  Thou  alone  can'st  pay: 
"  Unchanged,  unchanging,  old  without  decay. 
"  Thou  knowest  all  things  :  who  Thy  praise  can  state  ? 
"  Createdst  all  things,  Thyself  uncreate  : 


(       23       ) 

"  The  world  obeys  Thy  uncontrolled  behest 

"  In  whatsoever  form  Thou  stand'st  confessed. 

"  Though  Human  wisdom  many  roads  can  see, 

"  That  lead  to  happiness,  all  verge  in  Thee: 

*'  So  Ganga's  waves  from  many  a  distant  snow 

"  Unite,  and  to  one  mighty  ocean  flow. 

"  They,  who  on  Thee  have  fixed  their  steadfast  mind, 

"  And  to  Thy  power  themselves,  their  all,  consigned, 

"  Free  from  desire  Thou  lead'st  them  to  that  bourne, 

"  Where  all  must  go,  whence  none  can  e'er  return. 

"  Though  of  Thy  might  before  man's  wondering  eyes 

*'  The  earth,  the  universe,  in  witness  rise, 

"  Still  by  no  human  skill,  no  mortal  mind, 

"  Can  Thy  infinity  be  e'er  defined. 

"  As  the  bright  pearls  surpass  the  ocean  bed, 

"  The  sun  the  light  by  wandering  planets  shed, 

"  So  far  Thy  real  form's  celestial  ray 

"  Exceeds  the  homage,  which  weak  mortals  pay : 

"  And,  if  to  bid  Thy  awful  grandeur  hail, 

"  Our  feeble  voices  in  their  tribute  fail, 

"  'Tis  not  the  number  of  Thy  praises  cease, 

"  But  that  our  power,  alas  !  knows  no  increase." 

(Robert  N.  Cust  : 
Poems  of  many  years  and  places,  1842.) 

So  in  the  Egyptian  system  Amen  Ra  is  more  a  spiritual  con- 
ception than  a  material  reality.   In  Homer  Zeus  is  Lord  of  all. 

More  than  this  :  beyond  the  conception  of  one  great  Power 
was  the  great  Idea  of  the  Avatara,  the  Immanuel,  the  Son 
of  God,  sent  to  redeem  man  in  Human  form.  One  of  the 
fiercest  apophthegms  of  the  Mahometan  is,  "  Men  will  tell  any 
lie ;  they  even  say  that  God  can  have  a  son."  Yet  History  tells 
us,  that  in  the  annals  of  the  two  greatest  Races  of  mankind, 
the  Grseco-Roman  and  the  Indian,  this  was  an  accepted  article 
of  Faith  long  before  the  great  Anno  Domini.  The  Roman 
Centurion,  who  had  witnessed  the  awful  scene  of  the  Cruci- 
fixion, belonged  no  doubt  to  the  Olympian  Religion,  and  bore 
testimony  that  He,  who  had  died  on  the  Cross,  was  the  Son 
of  God  ;  he  could  think  of  nothing  higher,  to  which  he  could 
compare  his  dignity,  his  patience,  his  God-likeness,  than  to 
Hercules,  Bacchus,  or  the  Gemini.  No  ignorant  Gentile,  as 
he  was,  could  have  had  any  conception  of  the  Logos,  the 
"Ayta  '2o(/)t'a,   the   Second   Person  of  the  Trinity. 

At  the  eve  of  the  epoch  of  the  great  Anno  Domini,  we  find 
Horace  addressing  the  Emperor  Augustus  in  the  following  line : 

"  Serus  in  coelum  redeas." 


(       24       ) 

And  Virgil,  writing  of  the  same  Emperor: 

"  Namque  erit  ille  mihi  semper  Deus." 

Adrian's  dying  words  are  worth  recording  : 

"  Ut  puto,  Deus  fio." 

Caligula's  instructions  to  his  subjects  ran  thus  : 

"  Dominus,  et  Deus,  noster,  sic  fieri  jubet." 

(Suetonius,  cap.  xiii.) 

In  India  I  have  known  ignorant  men  trying  to  get  something 
out  of  their  English  Ruler  by  gross  flattery.  I  have  myself 
been  addressed  in  the  shocking  blasphemous  way,  "  Hazur 
Parameshvar,"   "  your  Highness  is  the  great  God." 

The  words  had  lost  their  spiritual  force  ;  the  Idea  of  the 
name,  originally  reserved  to  the  Ruler  of  the  Universe,  had 
been  degraded  :  the  same  fate  has  happened  to  the  words 
Kvpio^,  dominus,  lord,  Herr,  in  Europe  ;  the  sovereigns  of 
the  last  two  centuries  have  usurped  the  title  of  IMajesty, 
formerly  reserved  to  the  Deity. 

D.  Polytheism. 

As  Monotheism  was  the  elevation  of  the  Idea  of  the  great 
Power,  so  Polytheism  was  the  frightful  degradation.  Those, 
who  have  lived  in  India,  know  it  too  well.  In  this  direction 
Mahometanism,  has  done  good  service,  and  depraved  forms  of 
Christianity  have  done  evil  service  by  reintroducing  the  Worship 
of  other  persons  except  the  Triune  God,  and  a  Hierarchy  of 
Saints,  male  and  female.  It  is  sad  to  reflect  that,  as  the 
Heathen  world  are  gradually  passing  out  of  Polytheism,  and 
]\Iahometanism,  and  all  the  other  new  conceptions  keep  at  the 
greatest  distance  from  it,  the  Souls  of  professedly  Christians  are 
filled  with  material  objects  of  adoration  and  Worship. 

To  make  the  Idea  of  the  Divine  Power  intelligible  to  the 
ignorant,  minor  Deities  were  introduced  with  limited  powers 
as  objects  of  fear  and  worship,  demi-god's,  demiurges,  both 
in  the  Egyptian,  Hellenic,  and  Hindu  systems.  Ra  appears  as 
the  mid-day  Sun,  Atin-Ra  as  the  Sun's  disk,  Harmakh  as  the 
rising  Sun,  Turn  as  the  setting  Sun.  Triads  appear  in  all  these 
conceptions. 

2,  Place  of  Residence  of  such  a  Power. 

In  the  Graeco-Roman  legends  the  Deity  dwelt  on  Mount 
Olympus ;  in  the  Brahmanical  legends  on  Mount  Meru ;  in 
Assyria  there  was  some  locality  fixed  in  a  mountainous  country : 
in  the  conception  of  Buddha  and  Kong-Fu-Tsee,  nothing  of 


(       25       ) 

the  kind  exists.  Tiie  Jews  thought  of  Yahveh  as  dwelling- 
above  the  clouds  in  Heaven  (Lamentations,  iii.  50).  Stephen's 
dying  words  conveyed  this  conception,  and  Paul  seemed  to 
share  it.  In  the  books  of  the  Hebrews  the  Deity  is  conceived 
of  as  actually  residing  in  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  :  Solomon 
asks  the  question,  II  Chronicles,  vi,  18,  "Will  God  in  very 
deed  dwell  with  men  on  the  earth  ?  Behold  Heaven,  and 
the  Heaven  of  heavens,  cannot  contain  Thee ;  how  much  less 
this  house  which  I  have  built  I "  These  words,  attributed  to 
Solomon,  were  no  doubt  recorded  after  the  return  from  exile, 
when  Monotheism  was  thoroughly  established.  This  was  hardly 
the  case  in  the  time  of  Solomon,  for  we  read  in  I  Kings, 
xi,  4,  "that  his  heart  was  turned  after  other  gods."  The 
prophet  Ezekiel  had  higher  conceptions.  The  hill-tops  were 
favourite  places  to  worship  the  Deity :  some  of  the  most 
interesting  shrines  in  India,  such  as  Naini  Devi,  are  at  the 
top  of  high  hills,  with  stone -steps  ascending  the  hill -sides. 
The  discovery  of  the  rotation  of  the  Globe,  and  of  the  nature 
of  the  interior  of  the  Globe,  has  revolutionized  the  Idea :  all 
allusions  to  geographical  position  have  died  away. 

It  is  difficult  to  free  the  Religious  mind,  prone  to  superstition, 
from  such  notions :  Christian  Churches  are  still  erected  with 
certain  reference  to  the  East :  I  suppose  that  this  bears  reference 
to  Jerusalem,  which  lies  to  the  East  of  Europe :  but  the 
Orientation  of  Churches  is  also  maintained  in  India,  which 
is  to  the  East  of  Jerusalem.     So  it  is  a  mere  superstition. 

The  Mahometans  have  fallen  as  low.  In  the  life  of  Baba 
Nanak,  the  founder  of  the  Sikh  sect  of  the  Brahmanical  Re- 
ligion, it  is  recorded,  that  a  Mahometan  cried  out  to  him  : 
"  Base  Infidel,  how  darest  thou  turn  thy  feet  towards  the  House 
of  God  ?"  alluding  to  Mekka  in  Arabia.  Nanak  replied,  "Canst 
thou  turn  towards  any  spot  on  earth,  where  the  House  of  God 

IS  710t  .? " 

Paul,  the  Apostle,  echoing  at  Athens  the  words  used  by 
Stephen  at  Jerusalem,  gave  life  to  the  doctrine,  which  has 
never  been  departed  from  since,  that  the  Lord  of  Heaven  and 
Earth  dwelleth  not  in  Temples  made  by  hands,  and  he  uttered 
these  words,  as  he  stood  on  Mars'  Hill,  right  in  front  of  the 
Parthenon,  with  the  gigantic  statue  of  Athen6  looking  down 
on  him. 

3.  Theophanies,  Visioxs,  Dreams,  Good  and  Evil  Spirits. 

Amidst  an  ignorant,  credulous,  excitable,  population,  without 
the  corrective  control  of  Public  Opinion  over  the  narrator,  and 
opportunity  to  test  statements,  it  was  to  be  expected,  that  these 
strange   phenomena  would   be    recorded.      The    readiness   to 


(       26       ) 

believe  still  exists.  I  have  visited  the  chief  great  Roman 
Catholic  Shrines  to  inform  myself.  The  appearance  of  the 
Mother  of  Our  Lord  at  two  places  in  France,  is  asserted  within 
the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  Under  this  head  comes,  Ghosts 
of  the  departed,  Heavenly  Voices,  Heavenly  Warnings,  Heavenly 
leaders  in  Battle,  Portents,  Personal  guidance,  possession  of  an 
individual  by  an  Evil  Spirit :  in  fact,  all  the  channels,  by  which 
an  outward  manifestation  of  the  Deity  in  persons,  or  places, 
permanently  or  temporarily,  is  asserted. 

It  is  an  awful  subject  to  tell  falsehoods  about,  whether  in 
Prose  or  Verse,  but  the  Greek  and  Latin  Authors  made  light 
of  that  moral  obliquity.  Virgil  in  the  ^neid  tells  us,  how  the 
Deity  Venus  appeared  to  her  reputed  son  ^neas ;  Homer  tells 
us,  how  Athene  appeared  repeatedly  to  Ulysses ;  Ovid  tells  us, 
how  Jupiter  appeared  with  Mercury  to  an  old  couple ;  and  Livy, 
how  in  the  hour  of  battle.  Castor  and  Pollux  appeared  fighting 
for  Rome.  The  conception  of  Angels,  embodied  attributes  of 
God  or  Heavenly  Messengers,  developed  itself,  and  naturally  the 
conception  of  Evil  Spirits  followed,  and  the  germ  of  both 
conceptions  can  clearly  be  traced  back  to  Zoroaster.  The  word 
Satan  or  Shaitan,  the  ordinary  word  for  the  Devil  to  this  day  in 
Persian  and  cognate  Languages,  only  appears  four  times  in  the 
Old  Testament:  (i)  opposing  the  purification  of  Joshua,  the  High- 
Priest,  in  the  Prophecy  of  Zechariah  ;  (2)  once  in  the  Drama  of 
Job;  (3)  once  in  the  Chronicles,  as  tempting  David  to  take  a 
census  of  his  Subjects ;  (4)  once  in  the  Psalms :  the  word 
Baalzebub  never  appears  in  the  Old  Testament.  In  the  New 
Testament  their  appearances  are  more  frequent,  and  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  legends,  nothing  is  so  common  as  the 
appearance  of  an  angel,  and  even  of  Satan  himself. 

We  read  the  following  in  The  Times  of  1893  • 

"As  soon  as  a  sufficient  force  could  be  collected,  the  Kongo 
"  Free-State  despatched  an  Expedition  against  the  Arabs  in 
"  the  Upper  Kongo  Region.  The  first  battle  was  fought  on 
"  the  Lohmami,  and  resulted  in  the  rout  of  the  Arabs,  who 
"  explained  their  defeat  as  due  to  supernatural  agency,  alleging 
"  that  in  the  thick  of  the  fight  a  white  woman  was  seen  walking 
"  on  the  river,  and  that  every  man  of  the  Arab  forces,  who 
"  looked  upon  her,  fell  dead." 

Pass  on  to  Visions  by  day,  or  to  Dreams  by  night.  Socrates 
is  recorded  to  have  seen  in  a  dream  a  cygnet  flying  to  him,  and 
singing  sweetly  ;  next  morning  Plato  was  brought  to  him,  and 
he  considered  the  dream  fulfilled.  In  Virgil's  great  Poem 
dreams  are  freely  used.  In  the  Old  and  New  Testament  we 
find  the  same  phenomena:  when  Joseph  told  his  dream,  his 
brothers  spoke  of  this  dreamer  in  scorn;  many  hundred 
years  later  another  Joseph  considered,  that  he  was  warned  of 


(      27      ) 

God  in  a  dream ;  and  yet  in  this  age,  if  anyone  talked  of 
regulating  his  conduct  in  consequence  of  a  vision  or  a  dream, 
he  would  be  laughed  at.  The  conception  of  personal  spiritual 
communion  with  the  Deity,  and  a  sense  of  being  guided  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  have  taken  the  place  of  material  appearances.  The 
fond  and  foolish  conception  of  the  appearance  of  Ghosts  still 
holds  its  own  with  weak  people. 
Homer  writes  : 

Kai  <^ap  T  ovap  e/c  A<09  tajiv. 

(Iliad,  I,  63.) 

Again,  we  find  "Dream"  actually  personified  as  a  god.    Jupiter 
thus  addresses  him : 

/3a(TK    tOi,  oi'iXe    Oi'eipe,  6oa9  eTrt  I'ija^  ^Ay^aiiov 
eXOiov  es  KXiatijv  K^fnf.itpvovo'i    ATpeiSao. 

(Iliad,  II,  8-15.) 

In  the  Odyssey  we  read  further  of  the  two  gates  through 
which  dreams  pass:  Virgil  repeats  it  (^neid,  VI.  893): 

Boiui  'ycip  TG  TTvXai  apevtp'wv  eiaiv  oveipwv 
ai  pev  i^pip  Kepaeaai  TeTev)((nai,  aid  eXeCJiavTi. 

Those,  that  pass  through  the  ivory  gate,  are  false  and  deceive. 
Those,  that  pass  through  the  horn  gate  are  true. 

(XIX,  560,  568.) 

In  one  Inscription  of  Nabonidus,  King  of  Babylonia,  it  is 
mentioned,  that  he  was  summoned  in  a  dream  by  Merodach  to 
restore  a  ruined  shrine.     (Sayce's  Monuments,  p.  187.) 

It  is  astounding  to  find  a  survival  of  dreams  in  a  most 
unexpected  quarter: 

"  That  very  morning  he  had  received  from  Sherman  the  news 
of  Johnston's  impending  surrender.  Grant,  as  it  happened, 
had  just  arrived  in  Washington,  expressing  great  anxiety  as 
to  intelligence  from  Sherman.  The  President  answered 
him  in  that  singular  vein  of  poetic  mysticism,  which, 
though  constantly  held  in  check  by  his  strong  common- 
sense,  formed  a  remarkable  element  in  his  character.  He 
assured  Grant,  that  the  news  would  come  soon  and  come 
favourably,  for  he  had  last  night  had  his  usual  dream,  which 
preceded  great  events.  The  dream,  like  the  heathen  oracles, 
received  a  double  and  unexpected  interpretation.  Meantime, 
there  was  a  Cabinet-meeting,  where  the  treatment  of  the 
vanquished  rebels  was  discussed.  Lincoln  spoke  peremptorily 
in  favour  of  clemency.  No  one  need  expect  that  he  would  take 
any  part  in  hanging  or  killing  those  men,  even  the  worst  of 


(      28      ) 

"  them.  Frighten  them  out  of  the  country,  open  the  gates, 
"  let  down  the  bars,  scare  them  off,  he  said,  throwing  up  his 
"  hands,  as  if  scaring  sheep.  Enough  lives  have  been  sacrificed. 
"  We  must  extinguish  our  resentments,  if  we  expect  harmony 
"  and  union.  That  evening  he  was  murdered.  Superstition  was 
"  blended  with  his  strong  common-sense;  he  had  faith  in  dreams 
"  and  omens,  and  was  so  far  a  fatalist,  that  he  sincerely  believed 
"  in  his  destiny.  If  he  were  the  predestined  instrument,  he 
"  would  be  privileged  to  complete  the  work." 

With  regard  to  Spirits,  a  competent  authority  (Tiele,  p.  9) 
remarks,  that  Animism  is  a  primitive  philosophy,  which 
rules  the  whole  life  of  natural  man  :  it  is  the  belief  in  the 
existence  of  Spirits,  some  of  whom  are  powerful,  and  on  some 
man  is  dependent,  and  of  some  he  is  afraid,  and  hence  they 
acquired  the  rank  of  Divine  beings,  and  became  objects  of 
Worship.  These  Spirits  are  conceived  to  move  through  space, 
either  of  their  own  accord,  or  under  some  spell,  which  implies 
compulsion.  They  appear  to  men  :  this  is  Spiritism  ;  or  take  up 
their  abode  in  some  object,  living  or  lifeless,  and  this  object  is 
endowed  with  certain  powers,  and  is  an  object  of  Worship,  or 
employed  to  protect  individuals,  or  communities :  this  is 
Fetichism.  Sacrifices  are  offered  to  the  Spirits  of  the  dead,  even 
Human  Sacrifices. 

It  is  proved,  as  an  anthropological  fact,  in  all  parts  of  the 
world,  that  men  in  their  primeval  state  believed,  that  man  had 
a  Soul,  which  continued  to  exist  after  death  for  a  longer  or 
shorter  time,  and  could  return  to  the  earth  and  influence  for 
good  or  evil  the  affairs  of  the  living:  this  conception  lies  at  the 
root  of  Ancestor-Worship. 

Angelology  was  one  of  the  Hebrew  conceptions  of  a  late 
date,  and  certainly  sprang  from  contact  with  Zoroastrianism 
during  the  Babylonian  exile.  It  is  reasonable  to  suppose,  that 
all  such  conceptions,  which  became  the  common  property  of  the 
Zoroastrian  and  Jewish  Religions,  are  survivals  of  the  common 
Belief-store,  or  Legend-germ,  of  Mankind  :  the  more  ignorant, 
degraded,  and  politically  dependent  that  a  population  becomes, 
the  more  readily  it  accepts  lies,  innocent  lies,  yet  dangerous 
perversions  of  a  central  Truth,  At  the  time  of  Christ  the 
Sadducees  had  their  eyes  more  open  than  their  ritualistic 
neighbours  the  Pharisees  :  the  populace  was  always  ready  to  be 
deceived,  and  was  deceived  ;  it  swallowed  open-mouthed  any 
marvel.  Thus  grew  the  legend  of  Angels  :  the  Book  of  Tobit 
is  a  mere  Hebrew  Haggadah,  or  pious  fairy  story :  the  idea  of 
men  being  possessed  with  devils  was  a  purely  Palestinian 
conception  :  no  contemporary  Latin  or  Greek  Historian  notices 
such  possessions.  European  Christianity  never  accepted  such 
a   condition   of    mankind    in   Europe :    no    miracle   was    ever 


(       29       ) 

performed  by  the  Apostles  in  Europe  :  the  disease  of  devil- 
possession  is  not  alluded  to  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  written 
at  Ephesus  after  the  fall  of  Jerusalem.  No  Religious  movement 
ever  gets  a  permanent  start  without  follies  and  excesses  :  we 
see  it  in  the  Salvation-Army  of  modern  time :  it  is  ■  quite 
possible,  that  even  in  the  cold,  cynical,  incredulous,  atmosphere 
of  London  we  shall  have  a  crop  of  Visions  and  Evil  Spirits  : 
the  soil  is  being  well  manured  for  such  a  crop  :  all  sensational 
forms  of  Religion  are  liable  to  such  weaknesses. 

In  Mahometan  times  the  world  had  advanced  beyond  the 
intellectual  level  of  the  first  century  a.d.  :  Angels  could  only 
make  a  spiritual  appearance.  A  Sufi  called  out  to  God,  "  The 
desire  of  God  has  seized  me :  I  yearn  to  see  Thee."  The 
answer  came  directly  to  his  heart,  "  Be  content  with  My 
name."  So  long  as  this  is  the  channel  of  communication,  we 
may  rejoice,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  holds  converse  with  men.  It 
is  possible,  that  in  the  Old  Testament  this  was  meant,  when  it 
is  so  constantly  stated  that  "  God  said,"  "  God  spake,"  and 
it  is  to  be  regretted,  that  it  was  not  so  expressed.  (Max  INIiiller : 
Gifford  Lectures,  1893,  p.  340.) 

As  a  remarkable  instance  of  Heavenly  Voices,  I  may 
mention  the  Emperor  Adrian's  written  Memorandum  on  the 
Statue  of  Memnon  at  Luxor  :  "  Ego  Hadrianus  divinam 
vocem  audivi."  He  indeed  heard  the  sound  of  the  wind 
through  the  stones :  since  the  Statue  has  been  repaired  the 
sound  has  disappeared.  The  people  of  Lycaonia  are  recorded 
in  the  Acts,  xiv,  1 1  to  have  at  once  imagined,  that  Paul  and 
Barnabas  were  Jupiter  and  Mercury  in  disguise,  and  the 
inevitable  Sacrifice  of  animals  commenced. 

In  Isaiah,  viii,  ig,  we  read:  "And  when  they  shall  say  unto 
"  you.  Seek  unto  them,  that  have  familiar  Spirits,  and  unto 
"  wizards  that  peep  and  that  mutter,  should  not  a  people  seek 
"  unto  their  God." 

In  Luke,  xiii,  16:"  The  woman,  whom  Satan  hath  bound  these 
eighteen  years  (with  a  spirit  of  infirmity)." 

In  the  Synoptic  Gospels  we  read  of  possession  by  evil  Spirits. 
The  conception  can  be  traced  back  to  Hesiod  of  Heavenly 
Spiritual  Beings,  who  fill  the  unseen  world,  and  can  influence 
the  lot  of  men.  The  same  strain  of  thought  appears  in  Thales, 
who  defines  Demons  as  Spiritual  existences.  Pythagoras  was 
of  opinion,  that  these  Spirits  could  be  seen  or  felt.  Heraclitus 
held  that  all  things  were  full  of  Spirits,  and  Empedocles 
describes  the  wanderings  through  the  Universe  of  a  lost  Soul : 
this  calls  to  recollection  the  Chinese  conception  on  this 
subject.  Plato  asserts,  that  some  can  read  the  minds  of  living 
men,  are  grieved  by  wrong-doing,  appear  to  men  in  their  sleep, 
are  made  known  by  voices  and  oracles,  in  health,  sickness,  and 


(       30       ) 

the  dying-  hour.  After  the  great  oracles  were  silent,  and  the 
Philosophic  Schools  had  discredited  the  previously  accepted 
Cosmogony,  still  the  idea  of  Spirits  seems  to  have  revived. 
Plutarch,  a.d.  ioo,  seems  to  admit  their  existence,  and  to  assert, 
that  they  give  oracles :  it  is  a  feature  in  the  neo-Platonic 
system.  In  Acts,  xvi,  i6,  we  read  of  a  damsel  possessed  of  a 
spirit  of  Divination,  who  was  a  source  of  profit  to  her  masters, 
and  the  Spirit,  at  the  command  of  Paul,  came  out  of  her.  This 
kind  of  occupation  could  have  no  relation  to  the  cases  alluded 
to  in  the  Synoptic  Gospels,  as  they  were  obviously  cases  of 
epilepsy,  hysteria,  or  the  hypnotism  of  that  age. 

4.  Primeval  Revelation  :    was  there  any  ? 

With  regard  to  the  Religious  instinct  congenital  to  Man,  the 
theory  of  the  existence  of  a  Primitive  Revelation,  or  a  Primeval 
Tradition,  has  gained  ground  with  many  thinkers  :  it  is  absolutely 
unsupported  by  evidence,  and  generates  new  questions  of 
insoluble  difficulty.     One  author  writes  as  follows  : 

"  Throughout  all  the  Heathen  World  there  lie  scattered  the 
"  seeds  of  a  Primeval  Tradition,  sometimes  nearly  obliterated 
"  by  Fable,  overlaid  by  Mythology,  or  absorbed  by  Philosophy, 
"  but  still  supplying  elements  of  Truth.  The  germs  of  the 
"  Gospel  existed,  as  they  were  communicated  to  men.  Appeal 
"  should  be  made  in  reasoning  to  Primeval  Truth  ;  an  appeal 
"  to  common  principles  of  belief  will  conduce  to  the  acknow- 
"  ledgment  of  a  Truth,"  but  not  as  if  it  were  a  conception, 
which  came  into  existence  in  Syria  in  Anno  Domini,  instead 
of  being  part  of  the  great  scheme  of  Creation.  (Indian 
Missionary  Manual,    1870,   2nd  edition,  p.   195.) 

I  freely  admit  that  a  Religious  instinct  was  a  part,  and  an  in- 
dispensable part,  of  the  Genus  Homo,  but  it  seems  clear  that,  just 
as  there  was  no  one  common  seedplot  of  Languages,  but  distinct 
seedplots,  so  the  Human  Race,  differentiated  by  white,  black, 
yellow,  red,  and  brown  colours,  and  by  bodily  features  of  the 
most  marked  kind,  did  not  proceed  from  a  common  pair,  as  was 
believed  in  the  earlier  centuries  after  Anno  Domini.  Before  that 
date  there  is  no  evidence  of  any  belief  at  all  on  the  subject ;  at 
any  rate,  the  Hebrew  Race  would  never  have  admitted,  that  all 
mankind  came  from  a  common  ancestor. 

The  writer  of  the  above  extract  does  not  state  the  quarter, 
from  which  he  derived  the  theory,  that  ihrougJiout  the  Heathen 
World  the  seed  was  scattered  :  of  the  tribes  of  Africa,  Oceania, 
and  North  America,  we  have  nothing  but  the  vaguest  tradition. 
The  Book-Religions,  and  excavated  Monuments,  of  the  great 
Races  of  Asia,  and  Egypt,   do   not   supply  evidence  ;   at  any 


(       31       ) 

rate,  I  have  failed  to  find  it.  It  is  a  tremendous  assumption  to 
make,  and  implies,  that  there  has  been  a  continuous  degradation 
of  a  Divine  conception,  instead  of  a  gradual  increase,  and 
expansion,  and  elevation,  and  evolution,  from  century  to  century, 
which  is  my  deliberate  opinion.  The  existence  of  the  Sacred 
Books  of  the  East  seems  to  indicate  this,  and  the  long  procession 
of  Law-givers,  Philosophers,  and  Sages,  always  adding  to  the 
Store  of  Divine  knowledge,  Virtue,  and  'H  crfU  'S.ocp/a,  kcu  'H  apcrt], 
ended  in  the  appearance  of  Christ  in  the  Fulness  of  Time. 
The  fact  seems  to  be,  that  the  Great  Father  imparted  to  all 
His  poor  children  a  Religious  instinct,  and  a  Religious  faculty 
capable  of  development  according  to  their  physical  environment, 
and  metaphysical  opportunities. 


5.  Substitution  of  Idols   made  by  Men's   Hands   for  an 
Impersonal  Divinity. 

This  process  insensibly  takes  place  in  an  ignorant  Com- 
munity: they  require  something  visible,  tangible,  realizable  to 
the  perception,  and  naturally  the  Idols  assumed  Human  form, 
and,  as  Art  advanced,  the  most  beautiful  Human  forms,  that 
could  be  conceived  ;  but  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose,  that  the 
physical  embodiment,  which  the  Deity  is  supposed  to  have 
assumed  for  the  convenience  of  his  worshipper,  sliould  be 
a  copy  of  his  form  :  the  ei'SivXou  was  not  necessarily  a 
simulacrum:  originally  a  cairn,  a  rude  stone  pillar,  a  conical 
stone,  a  phallus,  were  the  symbols,  under  which  the  Divinity 
was  to  be  worshipped.  The  following  sentiment  is  attributed 
to  Apollonius  of  Tyana  in  the  first  century  after  Anno  Domini : 
"  The  mind  finds  for  itself  something,  which  it  delineates 
better  than  what  any  Art  can  do."  We  must  all  feel  this :  to 
the  cultured  mind  the  contemplation  of  a  Statue  or  picture 
deplorably  limits  the  conception,  which  had  been  previously 
formed,  or  which  could  be  supplied  by  words. 

At  any  rate,  by  the  time  of  the  Anno  Domini  the  epoch  of 
Worship  of  the  Works  of  the  hand  of  man  had  pretty  well 
come  to  its  end:  such  lines  as  those  of  Horace, 

"  Olim  truncus  eram  ficulnus,  inutile  lignum" 

{Sa/.  1,  viii,  i), 
speak  for  themselves. 

These  words  appear  in  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  by  an 
unknown  Alexandrian  Jew,  probably  a  contemporary  of 
Horace:  "No  man  can  make  a  god  like  unto  himself:  for  he 
himself  is  better  than  the  things,  which  he  worships :    for  he 


(       32       ) 

lived  once,  but  they  never."  The  very  latest  Book  of  the 
Christian  Canon  gives,  however,  instance  of  the  taste  for 
animal  symbolism,  in  the  Lion,  the  Lamb,  the  Bull ;  and  the 
allegory  of  the  four  Evangelists  in  the  Eagle,  the  Angel,  the 
Lion,  and  the  Bull.  No  doubt  there  is  some  point  in  the  retort 
of  the  Brahmin  to  the  Christian  Missionary,  "  You  blame  me 
for  worshipping  a  Bull :  why  do  you  worship  a  Lamb  ?  Are 
not  both  animals  symbols  ?  " 

It  is  not  necessarily  a  Worship  of  Idols.  The  Roman  Catholic, 
as  far  as  regards  externals,  acts  in  precisely  the  same  way  to 
his  saints:  he  kisses  the  brass  toe  of  St.  Peter;  he  bows, 
and  prays  to,  and  presents  offerings  to,  images  of  men,  and 
women  of  ancient  days:  I  carefully  exckide  all  representa- 
tions of  the  Persons  of  the  Triune  God.  The  Hindu  distinctly 
denies,  that  he  worships  the  stone  object,  but  the  Religious 
conception  of  which  that  object  is  the  outward  expression.  Let 
us  take  the  humble  example  of  a  female  child  with  her  doll : 
endowed  with  feelings,  which  hereafter  may  develop  into 
motherhood,  she  looks  on  the  doll  as  her  companion,  her  great 
care,  and  object  of  her  tenderest  affection :  she  knows,  that  it  is 
only  wood  and  linen,  and  she  knows  that  the  bystanders  know 
this  also,  yet  she  feels  for  it,  if  it  falls  to  the  ground,  or  is 
ill-used  :  she  is  voluntarily  deceived  :  the  day  comes  suddenly, 
when  the  cloud  is  lifted  up  from  her  eyes,  and  with  no  sense 
of  shame  she  puts  it  away  in  her  cabinet.  It  has  no  longer  a 
charm  for  her,  but  she  is  tolerant,  if  her  younger  sisters  find 
in  it  the  same  pleasure,  which  she  did. 

So  with  the  barbarian  :  he  is  man  in  his  childhood  :  he  accepts 
the  Idea,  more  than  the  fact,  that  the  Anthropomorphic  object  is 
the  Deity :  if  necessary,  he  will  call  in  the  artificer  to  repair  it 
or  paint  it,  but  he  has  invested  it  in  his  mind  with  his  very  best 
gifts :  its  eyes  look  on  his  wants  ;  its  ears  listen  to  his  prayers  ; 
its  nose  smells  his  sacrifice  ;  its  touch  heals  his  ailments :  his 
simple  untrained  intellect  cannot  conceive  of  a  Deity,  which 
fills  all  space,  governs  the  world,  and  yet  is  neither  visible,  nor 
tangible  :  he  claims  no  such  power  for  his  Deity,  who  belongs 
to  his  tribe  alone. 

Then  comes  the  question  of  Polytheism,  or  many  Deities  with 
equal  power ;  or  Monism,  where  there  is  one  Deity,  who  is  the 
Chief  God  among  many  gods  ;  or  Monolatrism,  where  each 
tribe  has  one  god,  will  worship  no  other,  still  admits  that  other 
tribes  have  their  own  god  ;  and  lastly  Monotheism,  where  there 
is  one  only  God,  Lord  of  the  Universe  :  the  Jews  did  not  arrive 
at  this  last  stage  till  the  time  of  Isaiah.  Yahveh  was  only  the 
God  of  Israel  to  them  :  this  was  Monolatry :  the  Polytheistic 
Greeks  admitted,  that  there  was  a  power  greater  than  that  of 
Zeus,  the  overruling  Fates  :  here  we  touch  ground  with  Monism. 


(       33       ) 

6.  Fatherhood  of  God. 

Wherever  the  traveller  penetrates,  he  finds  out  by  what  name 
the  local  Deity  is  known,  whether  he  is  a  person,  or  impersonal, 
what  Idea  is  conveyed  with  the  name,  whether  he  is  merely  a 
tribal  Deity,  or  God  of  the  whole  world,  whether  the  existence 
of  other  gods  is  admitted  as  a  fact.  Man  everywhere,  and  in 
every  age,  requires,  that  there  should  be  personal  relations 
betwixt  him  and  his  Deity :  where  otherwise  would  he  find 
a  solution  of  the  perplexities  of  existence  ?  The  Idea  of  a 
Deity  possesses  him  by  intuition,  or  observation :  it  gradually 
develops :  it  does  not  require  Science,  or  Philosophy,  to  find  out 
the  Deity:  ffe  is  there^  in  the  elements,  or  in  the  environment. 

The  difference  betwixt  the  primeval,  and  later,  conception 
of  the  relation  of  Man  to  the  Deity  is  five-fold,  and  necessarily 
affects  the  Anthropomorphic  Idea: 

(i)  The  Deity  is  perfectly  good:  there  is  no  envy  of  man 
in  Him:  His  relation  is  that  of  a  Father  to  all  His 
poor  children  on  Earth. 

(2)  Each  individual  has  a  personal  relation  with  the  Deity. 

(3)  An  Idea  of  what  is  actually  good  and  bad  is  formed, 

and  outward  prosperity  is  no  longer  the  chief  good, 
and  outward  adversity  the  chief  evil. 

(4)  There  is  a  consciousness  of  social  progress  to  higher 

levels  of  goodness  and  wisdom. 

(5)  The  conception  of  a  future  life  becomes  paramount: 

the  inequalities  of  Human  life  will  there  be  set 
right,  and  there  will  be  a  compensation  for  individual 
suffering. 

Carlyle,  in  his  "  Hero-Worship,"  remarks  that  Idol  is  eiBcvXou, 
a  thing  seen,  a  symbol  :  it  is  not  a  god,  but  a  symbol :  one  may 
question,  whether  even  one  of  the  most  benighted  mortals  took 
it  for  more  than  a  symbol ;  whether  he  ever  thought  that  the 
poor  Image,  which  his  own  hand  had  made,  was  a  god,  but 
that  a  god  was  emblemed  by  it,  that  a  god  was  in  it  in  some  way 
or  other.  But  in  process  of  time,  as  the  Worship  grew  to 
be  ancestral,  some  portion  of  the  community  began  to  believe, 
that  there  was  something  special  in  the  Image.  Take,  for 
instance,  the  Madonna  of  the  Pilar  in  Spain ;  the  Virgin  of 
Loretto  in  Italy  ;  the  figure  of  Jagarnath  ;  the  Lingam  in  India  ; 
the  Kaaba-Stone  in  Arabia  ;  the  tomb  of  our  Lord  in  Jerusalem. 
We  know  what  happened  to  the  Brazen  Serpent :  it  was 
destroyed,  because  it  was  worshipped  :  then  real  Idolatry 
begins.  The  bitter  attacks  of  Isaiah,  and  of  Protestant  Churches, 
come  into  existence  then :   no  one  supposes,  that  the  Roman 


(       34       ) 

Catholic  worships  the  Crucifix,  which  happens  to  be  on  the 
Altar:  that  is  only  a  symbol:  but,  when  he  has  walked  a 
thousand  miles  to  kiss  the  great  toe  of  St.  Peter,  he  does 
worship :  the  enlightened  Priest,  whether  Greek,  Hindu,  or 
Roman,  may  think,  that  it  is  only  a  symbol;  the  ignorant 
multitude  think  otherwise. 

7.  Threats  of  Worshippers  uttered  against  their  Gods. 

It  is  a  strange  degradation  of  the  Idea,  when  the  ignorant 
worshipper  threatens  his  god,  if  he  does  not  do  what  he, 
the  worshipper,  wants  :  the  attempt  to  bribe  him  is  common 
enough  by  an  additional  Sacrifice:  we  read  in  Virgil's  ^Eneid  : 

"  Multa  tibi  ante  aram  nostra  cadet  hostia  dextra," 

or  Horace's  promise  to  his  fountain  of  Bandusia: 

"  Cras  donaberis  hsedo." 

Clearly  Horace  and  Virgil  were  getting  in  their  notions  beyond 
the  epoch  of  Sacrifice. 


(       35       ) 


CAP.  II.     WORSHIP  OF  SUCH  A  POWER. 


I. 

2. 

3- 

What  is  it  ? 

Primeval. 

Ancestral. 

4- 
5- 
6. 

7- 

Sacrifice. 

Prayer. 

Ritual. 

Priestcraft,  Witchcraft,  Exorcism. 

8. 
9- 

10. 

II. 

Ceremonial  Cleanness,  or  Uncleanness. 
Fasting,  Celibacy,  Asceticism,  Eremitism 
Feasting,  Days  of  Rest. 
Esoteric,  or  Exoteric. 

I.  What  is  it  ? 

All  Nations  have  some  form  of  Worship:  what  is  Worship  ? 
Survey  mankind  from  China  to  Peru,  and  go  back  to  the 
remotest  ages,  and  you  will  not  find  a  people,  however  low  in 
culture,  however  restricted  in  local  environment,  who  have  not 
had  a  dim  conception  of  a  Power  greater  than  themselves,  to 
the  behests  of  which  they  are  compelled  to  bow,  which  they 
try  to  conciliate  in  their  own  rough  way.  The  civilized 
Nations,  who  swayed  the  world  before  the  great  Anno  Domini, 
present  marked  instances.  The  Amen  Ra  of  the  Egyptian 
Monarch,  the  Ashur  of  the  Assyrian,  the  Jupiter  Optimus 
Maximus  of  the  Roman,  the  Divine  Power  of  the  Zulu,  the 
great  Father  and  Spirit  of  the  Red  Indian,  the  Quetyalcoatl 
of  the  Mexican,  were  the  genuine  outcomes  of  the  great  motive 
of  Religious  Worship  : 

"  Primus  in  orbe  Deos  fecit  Timor." 

The  mode  of  Worship  varies,  being  limited  by  the  abundance, 
and  variety,  of  resources.  But  the  gigantic  figures  carved  on 
the  rocks  in  the  solitary  Easter  Island  in  Oceania  are  as 
impressive  to  the  spectator,  and  as  suggestive  of  real  Worship, 
as  the  stately  Monuments  at  Abu  Simbul,  the  solitary  IMemnon 
at  Karnak,  and  the  winged  bulls  at  Nineveh. 


(       36      ) 

With  the  majority  of  mankind,  Worship  of  some  kind  makes 
up  the  sum  total  of  Religion  :  can  this  be  so  ?  What  is 
Religion,  of  what  is  it  composed  ? 

Is  it  a  desire  to  save  the  Soul  by  Worship  and  dogma  ? 
Or  a  devotion  to  goodness,  which  is  practical  ? 

It  would  fill  a  volume  to  descant  further  on  forms  of 
Worship  :  they  vary  beyond  conception  :  considered  of  the 
highest  importance  by  one  Nation,  and  laughed  at  as  folly  by 
their  neighbours. 

A  writer  thus  expresses  himself:  "The  History  of  Religion 
"  is  very  curious :  looked  at  dispassionately  it  has  done  very 
"  little  for  mankind  in  general,  save  to  prove  one  fundamental 
"  Truth,  which  is  more  significant  than  any  dogma  :  that  Truth 
"  is  the  need  of  all  humanity  to  have  something  to  worship  : 
*'  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  civilization  that  need  has 
•'  made  itself  the  exponent  of  external  forms  :  it  is  the  kernel 
"  of  all  Religions."     ("  Mystery  of  Turkish  Bath,"  p.  1 1.) 

I  give  a  quotation  from  the  Agni  Purana,  one  of  the  Sanskrit 
Sacred  Books  of  the  Hindu :  "  That  is  the  best  Worship, 
"  which  is  made  without  the  expectation  of  the  attainment  of 
"  any  particular  object ;  the  worst  is  that,  which  is  performed 
"  for  the  accomplishment  of  a  particular  end." 

The  Worship  may  be  spiritual,  but  it  generally  is  carnal,  and 
the  tendency  is  year  by  year  to  become  more  so.  Its  object  is 
presumed  : 

(i)  To  please  the  Deity,  Demi-god,  or  Saint. 

(2)  To  conciliate  his,  or  her,  favour. 

(3)  To  remove  his,  or  her,  anger. 

(4)  To  render  thanks  for  past  mercies  attributed  fondly  to 

him,  or  her. 

(5)  To  pray  for  future  blessings. 

(6)  To  persuade  the  Deity  to  destroy  the  enemies  of  the 

worshipper. 

I  designedly  omit  the  details  of  Christian  Worship  of  all 
kinds,  except  when  illustrating  phenomena  of  non-Christian 
Worship,  and  I  take  my  examples  from  Pagan  Greece  and 
Rome  in  the  past,  the  contemporary  Worship  of  the  Brahman, 
the  Buddhist,  the  Jew,  and  the  Barbarian  of  Africa,  North  and 
South  America,  and  Oceania.  I  am  tolerably  familiar  with 
them  all. 

Old  Homer  tells  us  how  offerings  were  made  to  Athen6 : 

IV   wyaX/iia  6ea  Ke'^apono   icovaa. 

{Odyssey,  III,  438.) 


(      37      ) 

Cardinal  Lavigerie  has  unconsciously,  but  happily,  interpreted 
the  sentiment  in  his  Inscription  to  the  Mother  of  Christ  in  her 
reputed  home  at  Jerusalem,  which  the  Pope  has  selected  for 
her:  "  When  the  Virgin  looks  down  from  Heaven  to  the  place 
"  of  her  birth,  her  eyes  will  fall  on  the  names  of  those, 
"  who  have  subscribed  so  many  francs  to  the  repair  of  the 
"  building." 

Abraham  was  ready  to  offer  up  Isaac ;  Agamemnon  actually 
offered  his  daughter  Iphigenia,  though  Artemis  interfered  to 
save  her ;  Jephthah  sacrificed  his  daughter ;  children  were 
passed  through  the  fire  to  Molech  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem  just 
before  the  Exile,  Jeremiah,  xxxii,  35. 

Asking  for  blessings,  and  returning  thanks  for  them,  trying  to 
conciliate  the  Deity,  if  things  go  bad  with  the  worshipper,  calling 
for  vengeance  and  slaughter  of  enemies,  loading  the  altars  with 
the  flesh  of  plundered  cattle,  ornamenting  the  temple  with  the 
precious  metals  ravished  from  plundered  houses,  hanging  up 
the  trophies  of  war,  and  Standards  of  Regiments,  in  the  place 
of  Worship  ;  going  after  new  Deities,  if  the  old  one  seemed  slow 
to  discharge  his  duties,  and  send  seasonable  rain,  abundant 
harvests,  and  long  periods  of  rest  from  war  and  invasion  : 
such  were  the  features  pourtrayed  in  the  Books  of  Kings  and 
Chronicles  of  the  Hebrew  people,  and  are  a  fair  sample  of  the 
rest  of  the  world  in  the  ages  preceding  the  great  Anno  Domini. 

But  the  mockery  of  Worship  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  a.d. 
is  still  more  marked  :  on  every  public  occasion  in  every  country 
of  Europe  a  function  is  performed  :  Protestants,  members  of  the 
Greek  Church,  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  Mahometans,  Turks, 
Atheists,  Agnostics,  and  those,  who  care  nothing  for  Religion, 
assemble  to  listen  to  Music  and  Anthems,  and  intoned  prayers,  a 
tribute  to  some  departed  Statesman,  or  to  celebrate  a  Christening, 
a  Confirmation,  a  Marriage,  a  Funeral,  of  some  member  of  the 
Royal  Family.  What  an  awful  burlesque  on  the  true  faith  of 
Christ  is  such  purely  formal  Christianity !  we  laugh  at  the 
Buddhist,  and  Chinese,  but  is  this  not  much  worse  '^  The  silver 
jubilee  of  the  King  of  Siam's  reign  was  celebrated  by  a  series  of 
Religious  services  and  State  processions,  in  which  the  King  took 
part.  Great  satisfaction  was  felt  among  the  people,  because  the 
Diplomatic  Corps  was  fully  represented  at  an  audience.  It  is 
presumed,  that  the  sentiment  of  Religion  exalts  or  degrades 
itself  according  to  the  comparative  ignorance,  or  advancement 
in  general  culture,  of  the  professors  of  that  Religion ;  and 
unquestionably  Religion,  like  all  other  movements  of  thought 
and  belief,  is  subject  to  the  Laws  of  Development :  it  cannot 
remain  stationary  without  certainty  of  decay. 

A  craving  for  a  spiritual  unity  with  the  Deity  has  inspired 
many  Christians,  and  non-Christians,  but  this  craving  has  never 


(       38       ) 

been  so  fully  developed  as  in  the  Philosophic  Schools  of  ancient 
India.  So  also  in  all  external  form  of  Worship,  they  showed 
the  way. 

The  Roman  Classical  Authors  admitted,  that  Greece,  con- 
quered in  arms,  ruled  in  intellect ;  so  also  Paganism,  though 
conquered,  clings  to  the  skirts  of,  and  defiles,  Christian  Worship. 
Archbishop  Whateley  boldly  says,  that  the  Roman  Catholic 
system  of  Saints,  Shrines,  Processions,  Priestcraft,  is  but  a  modern 
Paganism,  and,  if  we  look  closer,  we  find  that  Church- Architec- 
ture, Church-vestments,  Church-terminology,  such  as  templum, 
sacerdos,  hostia,  altare,  are  Pagan  :  the  initiated  into  the  Greek 
mysteries  were  required  to  fast  (Hibbert  Lectures,  1888,  p.  298  : 
Hatch)  before  they  drank  the  mystic  liquor,  or  ate  the  mystic 
cake :  Paganism,  instead  of  being  uprooted,  was  absorbed  into 
the  life  of  the  Italian  Church. 

When  you  enter  a  Roman  Catholic  Church  on  the  Continent, 
it  seems,  as  if  you  passed  into  a  different  Epoch  intellectually; 
old  buildings,  old  altars,  old  tombs,  Mass,  music,  worshippers  : 
is  it  real  ?  The  pictures  on  the  walls  tell  of  the  life  of  Jesus,  but 
does  this  exhibition  represent  the  Spirit  of  the  Master  ?  Does 
the  majority  of  the  worshippers  understand  what  they  are  doing  ? 
What  is  the  essential  difference  betwixt  their  cultus  and  that 
of  Pagan  Rome?  How  do  the  Priests  of  one  cult  differ  from 
those  of  the  other  ?  When  you  meet  them  in  the  Sacristy,  is 
it  not  obvious,  that  the  whole  thing  is  "opus  operatum,"  and 
that  no  possible  good  can  have  accrued  to  the  Soul  of  Priest, 
or  People.  Does  not  Westminster  Abbey  reflect  some  of  these 
features  ?  the  chant  of  the  singing  men  and  boys,  unconverted 
men  and  boys,  giving  out  in  high  and  low  musical  notes,  with- 
out any  sign  of  feeling,  the  great  mysteries  of  the  Incarnation, 
Resurrection,  and  Procession  of  the  Ploly  Ghost,  in  the  Creed. 
Each  paragraph  of  that  Creed  is  the  outcome  of  deadly  strife, 
and  the  certainty  of  it  cannot  be  asserted  with  mathematical 
accuracy,  and  it  is  only  understood  by  study  and  prayer ;  yet  it 
slips  off  the  tongue  of  a  lad,  whose  only  qualification  is  the 
possession  of  the  gift  of  sweet  sounds,  and  who  possibly  may 
have  been  singing  for  hire  at  a  Cider-Cellar  the  previous 
evening. 

St.  George  IMivart,  in  the  "  Nineteenth  Century,"  Dec,  1892, 
p.  913,  writes:  "In  a  certain  time  the  Paganism  of  Greece, 
"  and  Rome,  was  true  as  well  as  righteous,  and  Zeus  and  Athene, 
"  Ares  and  Aphrodite,  were  expressions  of  the  Divine  :  the  Pagan 
"  rites  and  ceremonies  were  in  a  measure  good,  and  the  Pagan 
"  Worship  an  acceptable  service."  This  gives  a  measure  of 
Worship. 

A  IMissionary  in  South  Africa  writes :  "  We  see  that  many  acts 
"  which,  according  to  Western  ideas,  are  far  removed  from  the 


(       39       ) 

"  region  of  devotion  and  Worship,  are  in  reality  parts  of  a  life, 
"  every  act,  word,  and  movement  of  which  has  a  significance 
"  in  a  Religious  sense.  I  have  seen  natives  of  Africa  perform 
"  acts  of  devotion  before  the  eyes  of  men,  who  declared  that 
"  they  had  no  idea  of  Worship  nor  of  gods.  When  a  native 
"  glances  at  the  sun  or  moon,  he  prays ;  when  he  drops  a  small 
"  particle  of  food  on  the  ground  before  he  begins  to  eat,  he 
"  offers  an  oblation  ;  if  he  throws  a  tuft  of  grass,  a  bit  of  stick, 
"  or  a  stone  out  of  his  hut  door  in  the  morning  before  emerging 
"  himself,  he  has  said  matins."  These  remarks  throw  light 
upon  the  very  important  question,  whether  all  men  possess  what 
we  may  call  the  Religious  sense.  I  have  always  believed  that 
we  have  the  best  ethnological  authority  for  saying,  that  no 
savage  tribe  has  ever  been  found  wholly  devoid  of  this  Religious 
sense. 

Cardinal  Wiseman,  in  a  discourse  on  University-Education  in 
1852,  p.  qb,  writes:  "God's  writing  is  on  the  wall,  whether  of 
"  the  Indian  fane,  or  the  portico  of  Greece  :  He  is  with  the 
'*  Greek  Dramatist  in  his  denunciation  of  tyranny  and  injustice, 
"  and  his  auguries  of  Divine  vengeance  on  crime.  Even  in  the 
"  legends  of  popular  Mythology  He  casts  His  shadow,  and  it  is 
"  dimly  discerned  in  the  ode,  in  the  epic,  as  in  troubled  waters, 
"  or  fantastic  dreams." 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that,  because  two  doctrines,  and  two 
practices,  resemble  each  other  in  Nations,  which  never  at  any 
period  came  into  contact,  they  must  have  been  derived  one  from 
the  other.  Of  course,  a  partisan  of  one  will  assert,  that  the  other 
party  derived  from  him.  The  Romish  Fathers,  Hue  and  Gabet, 
fondly  thought,  that  the  Buddhists  of  Tibet  had  borrowed  much 
of  their  ritual  from  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  real  truth  is, 
that  the  germs  of  Dogma  and  Practice  were  part  of  the  original 
outfit  of  the  Human  Race.  The  same  power  of  reasoning, 
which  they  all  equally  possessed,  flowed  in  the  same  channel, 
and  under  similar  circumstances  worked  out  the  same  phenomena. 
We  see  this  with  our  eyes  in  the  monuments  of  Egypt  and 
Mesopotamia:  an  act  of  adoration  to  a  Deity  is  being  made: 
call  it,  if  you  like,  foolish,  mistaken.  Worship,  yet  it  is  the 
outcome  of  a  specific  faith.  Rabshakeh  boasted  to  the  people 
of  Jerusalem  of  what  his  King,  and  his  King's  god,  had  done : 
it  was  no  reply  that  the  God  of  the  Hebrews  is  supposed  to  have 
made :  it  was  clear  that  the  same  Ruler  of  the  world  was 
worshipped  by  both,  who  influenced  the  Kings  of  all  the  round 
world  to  do  His  will  :  all  mankind  were  equally  His  poor 
creatures,  the  objects  of  His  Pity  and  Love,  then,  before  Anno 
Domini,  as  it  is  admitted,  that  they  were  after  that  date,  and 
the  illusion  of  the  chosen  people  had  cleared  away. 

It   must   surprise,   and  even  seem  repulsive  to,  a  Native  of 


(       40       ) 

China  and  India,  when  he  first  reads  the  Old  Testament.  A 
thoughtful  Brahmin  would  say  :  "  It  is  all  very  well  for  you 
"  English,  who  were  savages  at  the  time  of  Anno  Domini, 
"  Sacrificers  of  Human  beings,  grossly  ignorant,  with  no  Re- 
"  ligion,  or  Ritual,  or  Dogma,  or  Sacred  Books,  to  welcome 
"  the  Missionary  from  Jerusalem  with  the  good  news  ;  but  we 
'*  Indians  had  had  all  these  things  for  centuries :  we  worshipped 
"  the  Param^svara,  the  Great  Deity,  to  the  best  of  our  ability; 
"  we  built  magnificent  temples,  wrote  learned  treatises,  and 
"  elaborated  costly  rituals;  we  did  what  we  could,  with  a  free 
"  heart,  feeling  after  God,  if  haply  we  could  find  Him ;  we  did 
"  it  in  our  magnificent  cities,  amidst  wealth,  rank,  power,  and 
"  numbers ;  and  yet  this  miserable  tribe  of  the  Hebrews,  who 
"  occupied  a  country  about  the  size  of  two  out  of  our  hundred 
"  districts,  and  have  left  no  memorial  of  Architecture,  of  In- 
"  scriptions,  or  Statuary,  no  literature,  but  one  collection  of 
"  sacred  books,  the  largest  part  of  which  were  put  to  paper  at 
"  a  date  subsequent  to  Zoroaster,  Buddha,  and  Kong-Fu-Tsee, 
"  talk  about  the  Deity  being  their's  only  instead  of  being  the 
"  common  Father  of  all  mankind,  and  calling  our  ancestors 
"  by  insulting  names,  who  had  never  even  heard  of  the  exist- 
"  ence  of  this  petty  tribe,  which  has  long  ceased  to  exist  as  a 
"  Nation,  while  we  are  still  a  Nation  of  two  hundred  Millions." 

2.  Primeval. 

This  branch  of  the  subject  has  been  very  carefully  studied  in 
important  volumes.  There  has  been  a  certain  order,  according 
to  which  man  has  graduated,  as  it  were,  in  his  Worship :  (A)  the 
Tree  ;  (B)  the  Phallus,  or  Lingam  ;  (C)  the  Serpent ;  (D)  the  Fire  ; 
(E)  the  Sun  and  the  Heavenly  Host;  (F)  Animals;  (G)Totemism; 
(H)  Fetichism  ;  (I)  Hero-Worship.  It  is  unnecessary  to  enter  at 
large  on  these  Subjects :  the  point  before  us  is,  that  some  of 
these  forms  are  ubiquitous.  In  every  country  the  narratives 
of  travellers  report  grottos,  stones,  pillars,  cairns,  impressions  of 
footmarks.  The  tree  of  Knowledge  of  Good  and  Evil  appears 
in  the  Earliest  Hebrew  legends.  The  Phallus  is  believed  to  be 
the  root-conception  of  the  Obelisk:  in  India  it  is  manifest,  but 
there  is  no  obscene  motive:  the  multiplication  of  the  animal 
from  generation  to  generation  is  in  itself  a  marvel,  and  this  is 
the  symbol  of  reproduction.  The  Serpent  again  appears  in  the 
Earliest  Hebrew  legends.  When  we  come  to  Fire,  in  all  its 
manifold  appearances,  we  find  a  real  object  of  Worship,  a  maker 
and  preserver,  and  destroyer,  a  great  blessing  and  a  great  curse, 
a  good  servant  and  a  bad  master,  which  comes  into  existence 
we  know  not  how,  and  which  disappears  we  know  not  whither, 


(       41       ) 

which  destroys  vast  forests,  and  is  itself  quenched  by  water, 
which  is  the  instrument  of  Sacrifice  everywhere,  which  some- 
times appears  to  fall  from  Heaven  in  the  stroke  of  lightning, 
and  sometimes  appears  from  the  hard  rock  as  the  Naphtha- 
spring.  I  was  standing  at  the  famous  Naphtha-springs  of  Jowala 
Mukhi,  in  North  India,  when  a  Hindu,  who  had  travelled  many 
hundred  leagues,  arrived,  and  bowed  before  it,  and  turning  to 
me  said,  in  accents  of  deep  devotion,  "This  indeed  is  God." 
He  had  felt  after  this,  and  had  found  Him,  "Agni,"  the  Fire, 
"a  symbol  of  the  Comforter  and  Destroyer." 

The  Worship  of  the  Moon,  and  the  Heavenly  Host,  in  a  clear 
Eastern  night  is  excusable.  The  glory  of  the  rising  and  setting 
Sun  cannot  be  exceeded.  In  the  beautiful  Grseco- Roman 
conceptions,  Phoebus  Apollo,  and  Artemis  Diana,  represented 
the  Sun  and  the  Moon.  The  god  of  the  Moabite  was  named 
Chemosh,  or  Shumsh,  the  Sun;  and  Sampson  means,  "like  the 
Sun."  Astrology  was  an  early  weakness  of  the  Human  Race. 
To  this  very  day,  the  days  of  the  weeks  are  named  after  the 
Sun,  the  Moon,  and  the  five  Planets,  Mercury,  Mars,  Venus, 
Jupiter,  and  Saturn,  or  Deities  analogous  to  them. 

The  Gayatri  of  the  Brahman  is  impressive :  "  Let  us  adore 
"  the  Supremacy  of  the  Divine  Sun,  the  Deity,  who  illuminates 
"  all,  from  whom  all  proceed,  and  are  renovated,  and  to  whom 
"  all  must  return  ;  whom  we  invoke  to  direct  our  intellect  aright 
"  in  our  progress  towards  His  Holy  Seat"  (Sacred  Anthology, 
p.  103).     The  great  God  of  the  Egyptians  was  Ra,  the  Sun. 

Tree  and  Serpent-Worship  have  been  the  special  Study  of 
a  very  competent  Scholar,  the  late  James  Fergusson,  and  his 
magnificent  book  tells  its  own  story.  Sayce,  in  his  Higher 
Criticism  and  the  Monuments,  1893,  writes  as  follows  (p.  182) : 
"  All  over  Syria  rags  are  hung  up  as  offerings,  nominally  to 
the  Shaikh,  after  whom  some  tomb  is  named,  but  really  to 
the  Spirit  of  the  Tree,  to  whom  Worship  had  been  paid  before 
the  days  of  Islam.  Tree-Worship  is  of  immense  antiquity  in 
Semitic  lands,  but  the  Tree  must  be  solitary  and  alone  before 
it  could  be  deemed  holy:  the  Tree,  which  stood  in  the  midst 
of  the  Babylonian  Garden  of  Eden,  and  under  whose  shadowy 
branches  was  the  shrine  of  Tammuz,  may  have  been  a  re- 
flection of  the  Sacred  Tree.  In  Genesis  we  read  of  the 
Serpent  and  the  Apple-Tree.  Throughout  India  the  traveller 
comes  across  votive  rags  fastened  on  the  branches  of  particular 
trees." 

We  read  in  Deut.  iv,    19:    "The  Sun,  and  the  Moon,   and 
Stars,   even  all  the   Host  of  Heaven  ....  which  the  Lord 
thy  God  hath  divided  [apportioned]  unto  all  Nations  under 
the  whole  Heaven." 
In  the  time  of  Justin  Martyr  it  was  believed  by  some,  that  God 


(       42       ) 

had  allowed  the  Heathen  to  worship  the  heavenly  bodies. 
(Speaker's  Commentary.)  Bishop  Westcott  quotes  the  passage 
with  the  following  remark  :  "  In  two  passages  of  Deuteronomy, 
"  even  false  Religions  are  presented  as  part  of  the  Divine 
"  ordering  of  Humanity  :  even  their  Idolatries  had  a  work  to 
"  do  for  Him,  an  office  in  the  discipline  of  men."  (Westcott: 
Gospel  of  Life,  p.  114.) 

We  cannot  doubt,  that  in  those  early  days  of  man's  History, 
when  the  artificial  world,  the  creation  of  men's  hands,  Cities, 
Temples,  etc.,  did  not  exist,  the  Kosmos,  made  by  the  hand 
of  God,  the  starry  Heavens,  the  vast  Rivers  peopled  by  fish, 
the  impassable  Forests  occupied  by  animals  in  their  freedom, 
went  for  much  more ;  and  the  simple  Souls  of  God's  poor  children 
had  through  them  avenues  leading  up  to  God,  obscured  to  us 
by  the  nearer  horizon  of  our  Arts  and  Sciences,  Prejudices,  and 
Religious  conceptions,  the  creatures  of  Man's  Intellect  at 
particular  epochs  of  his  existence,  modified  but  not  effaced 
by  the  stream  of  time,  as  it  flowed  on.  The  Soul  of  the 
Heathen  in  its  naked  and  untutored  simplicity  went  straight 
up  without  the  intermediates  of  Priests  to  the  Throne  of  Grace 
and  Goodness,  like  the  lisping  of  the  Children  at  the  knees  of 
their  Parents.  They  knew  not  the  Divine  Name,  but  they  knew 
the  Hand,  which  gave. 

There  was  a  stage  in  the  growth  of  Religious  conceptions 
which  is  called  by  Tiele,  a  great  authority,  the  "  Therian- 
thropic."  Men  began  to  worship  Animals  {0?jp),  and  then  the 
chief  of  Animals,  Man  {uvOpwiro^).  In  Totemism  every  tribe 
and  city  had  its  Totem,  or  sacred  animal,  to  whom  it  offered 
some  moderate  Worship,  and  considered  as  in  some  way  its 
blood-relation.  This  developed  into  actual  Worship :  in 
Egypt  and  in  India  we  find  notable  examples :  some  animals 
were  deemed  sacred,  such  as  the  Cow  in  India,  and  are 
addressed  by  the  ignorant  herd  in  terms  of  respect,  such 
as  Mahad6o.  The  Bull  and  the  Cat  were  the  objects  of 
Worship  in  Egypt  :  we  read  of  the  Calf  in  the  Wilderness,  the 
Calves  at  Bethel  :  in  his  Hibbert  Lecture,  Montefiore,  himself 
a  Hebrew,  asserts,  that  Bulls  were  part  of  Hebrew  Worship. 
The  Brahmanical  system  teems  with  them,  the  Fish,  the 
Tortoise,  the  Boar,  the  Man-Lion,  the  Elephant.  Although 
this  form  of  Worship  died  out  gradually,  and  the  worshipper 
would  deny  with  scorn,  that  their  Deities  were  ever  represented 
by  animals,  still  there  is  a  survival.  Some  Deities  retain  a 
portion  of  an  animal's  body,  such  as  Ganesa  with  the  head  of 
an  elephant.  In  the  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  and  Egyptian 
Monuments  there  is  the  figure  of  a  man  with  the  head  of  an 
animal,  and  winged  Bulls  with  the  head  of  a  man :  a  stage 
lower  certain  animals  are  described  as  sacred  to,  and  symbols 


(       43       ) 

of,  certain  Deities ;  formerly  they  were  the  Deities  themselves. 
The  higher  development  of  Animal-Worship  is  evidenced  in 
Hero-Worship,  which  is  ubiquitous:  it  is  difficult  to  draw  the 
line  betwixt  Deities,  when  they  are  only  Demi-gods  and 
illustrious  men :  the  Avatara  of  the  Hindu  evidences  this : 
(i)  the  Tortoise,  (2)  the  Fish,  (3)  the  Boar,  (4)  the  Man-Lion, 
(5)  the  Dwarf;  then  four  Heroes. 

In  the  Roman  system  there  were  Altars  to  Augustus  in  his 
lifetime : 

"  Proesenti  tibi  majores  largimur  honores." 

(Virgil.) 

In  the  same  category  come  Hercules,  Bacchus,  Castor  and 
Pollux,  and  finally  all  the  Roman  Emperors. 

Those  unfortunate  objects  of  Worship,  such  as  the  Egyptian 
and  Assyrian  Deities,  and  the  statue  of  Diana  of  the  Ephesians, 
have  found  their  way  into  Museums :  objects,  which  were  once 
of  Worship,  are  now  of  pity,  and  even  of  derision. 

The  Saints  of  the  Romish  Church  took  the  place  of  the 
dethroned  Deities  and  Demi-gods:  they  were  expressions  of 
the  same  superstitious  desire  to  conciliate  something,  or 
somebody,  outside  the  conception  of  God  ;  in  many  instances 
the  same  tradition  is  carried  out  with  only  change  of  name : 
there  is  a  Church  dedicated  to  St.  Theodosius  at  Rome,  which 
occupies  the  site  of  a  Temple  to  Romulus,  and  discharges  the 
same  duty  of  protection  of  young  children.  In  course  of  time 
the  statues  of  Saints  will  follow  the  statues  of  the  Demi-gods, 
and  find  their  way  to  the  Museums,  as  specimens  of  Art  of  the 
time,  and  of  the  degree  of  superstition  of  those,  who  employed 
the  Art  for  that  purpose,  then  of  pity,  and  lastly  of  derision. 

3.  Ancestral. 

In  the  last  chapter  the  forms  of  Worship  were  general;  here 
they  are  individual.  Appeals  to  the  memory  of  deceased  parents 
and  ancestors  belong  to  the  tender  associations  of  the  Human 
Race,  and  within  limits  are  holy :  when  a  Religion  is  changed, 
there  is  much  suff"ering :  Hindu  fathers  threaten  to  destroy 
themselves,  if  their  sons  become  Mahometan  or  Christian;  a 
Roman  Catholic  Mother  would  deplore  her  child  becoming 
a  Protestant,  and  vice  versa.  The  Worship  of  Ancestors  is  one 
of  the  most  prevalent  features  in  all  Nations  and  at  all  times. 
In  China  it  is  notorious:  among  the  Romans  there  were  the 
Dii  Penates  and  Lares :  this  feeling  has  led  to  the  Worship  of 
shrines,  tombs,  relics:  we  read  of  the  worship  of  Teraphim 
among  the  Hebrews  ;  in  Africa  of  Fetichism.    Every  one  of  these 


(       44       ) 

forms  of  Worship  is  based  on  a  degraded  superstition,  always 
developing.  Next  comes  the  conception  of  the  duty  of  Pilgrimage: 
Jerome,  in  the  fourth  centuryA.D.,  inveighed  against  this  tendency, 
which  was  growing  in  his  age  :  it  is  now  one  of  the  sins  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  :  of  course  Miracles  soon  grow  out  of  such 
pilgrimages,  and  will  continue  to  grow :  it  is  the  same  with 
the  Hindu,  Mahometan,  and  Buddhist:  the  most  certain  cure 
of  barrenness  for  a  woman  is  to  go  on  pilgrimage.  The  following 
notices  are  startling  as  occurring  in  London  this  very  year : 

"At  St.  Mary's  Roman  Catholic  Church,  in  Cadogan-street, 
"  S.W.,  there  have  been  during  the  last  three  days  special 
"  devotions  in  honour  of  '  Blessed  Thomas  More,'  through  whose 
"  intercession  a  remarkable  cure  is  said  to  have  been  effected.  It 
"  appears  that  a  lady  who  had  been  upon  her  bed  for  more  than 
"  four  years,  and  who  had  been  unable  for  two  years  even  to 
"  place  her  foot  upon  the  ground,  requested  her  friends  to  say 
"  prayers  to  the  Chelsea-martyr  on  her  behalf.  This  they 
"  willingly  did.  One  night  recently  the  lady  in  question  suddenly 
"  displayed  a  disposition  to  rise  from  her  bed,  and  to  her  own 
"  surprise,  and  that  of  her  maid,  she  found  herself  perfectly  able 
"  to  walk  across  the  road." 

"On  Saturday  the  body  of  Romanists  known  as  'The  Guild 
"  of  Our  Lady  of  Ransom,'  had  their  annual  pilgrimage  to  the 
"  shrine  of  Thomas  A  Becket  in  Canterbury  Cathedral.  According 
"  to  a  daily  contemporary,  the  proceedings  in  the  Cathedral  '  were 
"  characterized  by  great  devotion,'  the  pilgrim  being  asked  to 
"  pray  earnestly,  '  especially  for  the  reconversion  of  this  country 
"  to  the  faith,  in  defence  of  which  the  blissful  martyr  died.'  " 

No  one  can  be  present  at  an  Indian  place  of  pilgrimage,  such 
as  the  Ganges,  without  feeling  what  a  vast  capacity  of  Religious 
enthusiasm  the  Hindu  has,  a  capacity  of  Sacrifice  to  God  of  his 
all,  for  many  do  not  live  to  return  home ;  a  readiness  to  bear 
hardships,  long  journeys,  hunger,  thirst,  sickness,  death :  all  for 
the  love  of  the  Deity.  Does  the  European  Missionary  give  the 
poor  Pagan  the  credit  of  this  ?  does  he  himself  live  up  to 
the  same  ideal  ? 

The  Idea  of  the  advantage  of  a  Pilgrimage  is  common  to  all 
Religious  conceptions. 

"  He  who  has  controlled  his  own  spirit  and  desires,  who  has 
"  knowledge,  piety,  and  a  good  character,  gathers  fruit  from 
"  a  pilgrimage.  Even  in  the  sacred  forest  inflamed  passions 
"  cause  crime,  and  in  the  city  self-control  brings  piety  to  dwell. 
"  The  virtuous  man's  home  is  his  desert  of  devotion."  (Sacred 
Anthology,  p.  140.) 

A  poor  pilgrim  followed  the  caravan  to  Mekka,  but  when 
she  saw  the  others  praying  round  the  Kaaba,  she  cried  out, 
"  Oh  !  weak  followers  of  the  weak,  thou  hast  travelled  land  and 


(       45       ) 

"  sea  to  seek  in  this  far-off  place  the  god,  who  had  long  ago 
"  come  to  thee."     (Julaluddin  :   Sacred  Anthology,  p.  90.) 

The  pious  Hindu  traverses  the  length  and  breadth  of  India, 
laying  himself  flat  on  the  ground,  making  a  mark  in  the  earth 
where  his  head  lay,  rising  up,  and  placing  his  feet  where  his 
head  was,  thus  slowly  advancing  towards  the  place  of  pilgrimage 
in  days,  months,  and  years. 

In  a  paper  on  "Hausa  Pilgrimages  from  the  Western  Sudan," 
the  Rev.  Charles  H.  Robinson  said,  that  he  had  just  returned 
from  a  preliminary  journey  along  part  of  the  north  border  of 
the  Sahara,  which  had  been  made  with  a  view  to  ascertain  the 
possibility  of  crossing  the  Great  Sahara  from  Tripoli  in  order 
to  visit  the  Hausa  States,  which  lay  to  the  west  of  Lake 
Tchad,  and  to  the  north  of  the  Niger  and  river  Binue.  His 
intercourse  with  Hausa-speaking  natives  in  North  Africa  served 
to  reveal  the  enormous  extent,  to  which  the  pilgrimage  to  Mekka 
was  affecting  the  life  and  habits  of  the  people  in  the  far  in- 
terior. Many  thousands  of  such  pilgrims  found  their  way 
thence  to  Mekka,  some  by  crossing  the  Great  Sahara,  and 
going  by  sea  from  Tripoli,  others  by  way  of  Wadai,  Darfur, 
Khartum,  and  Suakin. 

Now  that  the  Government  of  India  has  arranged  with  Messrs, 
Cook,  of  Ludgate  Circus,  to  conduct  the  Mahometan  Pilgrimage, 
we  get  more  accurate  statistics  of  this  great  Religious  phe- 
nomenon. 

The  Mekka  Pilgrim  Traffic.  "A  brief  account  of  last  year's 
"  pilgrimage  to  Mekka  is  now  published  in  Consul  Richard's 
"  Report  on  the  trade  of  Jeddah.  As  the  principal  day  of  the  Haj 
"  fell  on  a  Friday,  it  was  anticipated,  that  the  number  of  pilgrims 
"  would  be  very  large,  but  the  reality  outstripped  the  most 
"  sanguine  anticipations.  At  Jeddah  and  Yambo  over  90,000 
"  landed:  that  is  about  double  the  average:  and,  in  all,  from 
"  250,000  to  300,000  persons  went  to  Mekka  during  the  season, 
"  British  India  supplying  the  largest  number.  Cholera,  it  will 
"  be  remembered,  raged  in  the  Mekka  valley  while  the  pilgrims 
"  were  there,  the  daily  number  of  deaths  being  at  least  1,000, 
"  and,  subsequently,  the  disease  broke  out  at  Jeddah,  where  they 
"  were  waiting  for  embarkation,  and  from  500  to  600  deaths 
"  occurred  daily.  I\Ir.  Richards  says  the  official  estimate  of 
"  deaths  of  those,  who  travelled  by  sea,  which  was  9,577,  '^^^^ 
"  certainly  below  the  mark,  while  no  fewer  than  15,000  of  those 
"  who  went  to  Mekka  by  land  perished.  Thus  last  year's  Haj 
"  will  be  memorable  for  the  extraordinary  number  of  the  faithful, 
"  who  took  part  in  its  ceremonies,  and  for  the  ravages,  which 
"  were  far  greater  than  any  previous  record.  Indeed,  to  a  great 
"  extent,  this  may  be  considered  as  an  ordinary  sequence  of  cause 
"  and  effect,  although,  undoubtedly,  the  fact,  that  the  simoon  was 


(       46       ) 

"  blowing  steadily  and  unintermitlently  for  eleven  days  during  the 
•'  latter  end  of  May,  while  the  heat  during  the  first  ten  days  of 
"  June  was  unusually  intense,  contributed  not  a  little  to  the 
"  development  of  conditions,  under  which  the  rapid  spread  of 
•'  the  disease  was  inevitable." 

So  deeply  rooted  in  the  Semitic  mind  is  the  belief  in  the 
Sanctity  of  Stones,  that  Mahomet  allowed  the  Kaaba  of  Mekka, 
in  Arabia,  to  remain  as  an  object  of  Worship  in  his  new 
Religion,  thus  separating  his  Religious  conception  from  the 
Buddhist  and  Christian,  inasmuch  as  they  both  belong  to  the 
world  at  large,  and  have  no  permanent  tie  to  any  particular 
country. 

The  diseaseof  Relic-Worship  breaks  out  in  unexpected  quarters. 
When  the  remains  of  Mr.  Spurgeon  were  brought  to  England, 
the  following  is  recorded  in  the  paper  of  the  day:  "The  coffin 
"  was  enclosed  in  a  packing-case,  and  on  the  arrival  of  the 
*'  steamer  was  removed  out  of  the  case  and  deposited  in  the  van 
"  attached  to  the  train.  The  impulse,  which  leads  men  to  treasure 
"  tangible  objects  connected  with  the  notable  dead,  is  strong  even 
"  among  those,  who  profess  to  rate  low  all  material  associations, 
"  and  some  of  the  spectators  yesterday  eagerly  seized  chips  and 
"  fragments  of  cordage,  as  the  coffin  was  removed." 

Under  this  head  of  Relics  must  come  the  brazen  serpent  kept 
by  the  Hebrews,  and  very  properly  destroyed  by  King  Hezekiah  ; 
the  Romans  had  a  Palladium.  In  many  parts  of  the  world  there 
are  stores  of  such  relics  :  at  Labor  we  had  the  sleeping  drawers  of 
Mahomet ;  at  Treves  the  Holy  Coat :  both  in  Christian  Europe, 
and  IMahometan,  and  Pagan,  Asia  and  Africa,  the  Fetich  is 
the  lowest  type.  Among  the  people  in  the  Kongo-basin  crosses, 
and  rosaries,  left  by  the  Romish  Mission,  who  centuries  ago 
occupied  that  Region,  are  still  prized  as  Pagan  Fetiches, 
showing  how  closely  united  are  all  false  developments  of  the 
Religious  Idea. 

It  is  difficult  to  realize  the  feelings  of  a  newly-converted 
member  of  the  Church  of  Rome :  all  credit  be  given  to  him  for 
selecting  his  own  way  of  Salvation  with  all  his  heart,  and  no 
doubt  he  has  found  his  Saviour.  But  suddenly  the  world  is  to 
him  peopled  with  Spirits :  the  Apostles  are,  as  it  were,  brought 
again  to  life ;  holy  men  and  women  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
supposed  to  have  been  long  in  their  graves,  St.  Francis, 
St.  Teresa,  and  others,  became  objects  of  interest,  and 
Worship,  and  of  prayer.  Conspicuous  among  them  is  the 
Mother  of  Christ,  and  her  husband,  Joseph,  now  placed  by 
an  audacious  Bishop  in  charge  of  all  the  ^fissions  to  Africa  : 
all  these  august  personages  are  supposed  to  be  cognizant  of  his 
thoughts,  appear  to  him  in  his  dreams,  have  power  to  interfere 
in  his  favour,  and  are  powerful  to  save. 


(       47       ) 

The  ark  of  the  Lord  became  a  Palladium,  and  was  taken  into 
battle,  and,  in  fact,  was  taken  pirisoner :  it  was  a  fair  taunt  in  the 
mouth  of  the  Philistines,  that  a  Deity,  which  could  not  take  care 
of  His  own  Ark,  could  scarcely  be  a  powerful  Deity.  In  the 
Spanish  wars  to  free  Spain  from  the  Mahometans,  the  black 
Virgin  of  the  Pilar  at  Zaragossa  was  constantly  at  the  head 
of  the  Spanish  forces,  and,  according  to  them,  brought  victory. 

I  quote  an  esteemed  authority  about  Spirits  : 

"  In  Oceania  one  ruling  idea  of  Worship  prevails,  that  the 
"  Spirits  of  the  Dead  are  the  rulers,  and  protectors  of  the  living  : 
"  the  mysterious  power  called  '  Mana,'  abides  with  such  after 
"  death,  and  a  powerful  man  in  the  world  will  be  a  powerful 
"  Spirit  after  death  in  another  world.  It  is  conceived  of 
"as  being  of  like  passions  with  ourselves;  it  is  conciliated 
"  to  be  a  friend,  yet  it  is  deemed  to  be  ever  ready  on  the  least 
"  offence  to  be  malevolent,  and  against  others  it  is  invoked  for 
"  every  kind  of  injury:  the  element  of  dread  superstition  enters 
"into  all  the  transactions  of  life."  (Bishop  John  Selwyn : 
Ramsden  Sermons,  May  21,  1893.) 

"  In  the  battle  of  life  there  is  one  thought,  to  obtain  Spiritual 
"  help  :  preparing  for  the  fight,  the  native  eats  the  leaf  of  a  tree, 
"  which  he  believes  will  fill  him  with  the  strength  of  the  Spirit  of 
"  the  Sun  :  if  he  kill  a  man,  he  deems,  that  his  arrow  has  been 
"  directed  by  the  Mana,  or  Spirit,  with  which  he  is  endowed." 
{Ibid.) 

"  When  we  tell  our  converts  of  the  power  of  the  Spirit,  which 
"  God  gives  through  Christ,  we  tell  them  what  their  simple 
"  Faith  at  once  understands."     {Ibid.) 

4.  Sacrifice. 

I  was  standing  a  few  years  ago,  one  Sunday  forenoon,  in  the 
gallery  of  the  Cathedral  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  close  to  the  tomb 
of  the  great  Emperor  Charlemagne,  who  died  over  one  thousand 
years  ago.  As  I  looked  on  the  performance  of  High  Mass 
going  on  in  the  Chancel  below  me,  and  on  the  suspended 
Crucifix  above,  and  the  figures  of  the  Saints  around  me ;  as  I 
smelt  the  smell  of  incense,  listened  to  the  Latin  chants  of 
unintelligent  perfunctory  Priests,  and  looked  at  the  stupid 
bovine  faces  of  the  German  boers,  who  occasionally  threw 
in  a  formal  response,  I  thought  to  myself,  Can  the  Almighty 
accept  such  Worship  }  God  is  a  Spirit,  and  they,  that  worship 
Him,  must  worship  in  Spirit  and  Truth  :  both  these  ingredients 
were  totally  absent  here :  it  was  a  mere  function ;  a  Royal 
lev6e;  a  grand  guard  mounting;  a  salute  of  so  many  guns  from 
a  warship  :   "  Vox  et  prseterea  nihil." 


(       48       ) 

I\Ty  thoughts  ascended  to  the  beginning  of  recorded  History, 
and  wandered  round  the  world.  Man  is  no  doubt  a  Religious 
animal,  but  his  Religion  is  evidenced  in  a  different  way  at  a 
different  epoch  of  Human  existence,  marking  Progress.  When 
the  Lord  turned  the  captivity  of  Job,  he  prayed  for  his  friends, 
a  Spiritual  Worship,  but  the  friends  were  ordered  in  expiation 
of  their  offences  to  "offer  a  Sacrifice  of  seven  bullocks  and 
seven  rams  at  a  burnt  Sacrifice":  it  matters  not,  whether  the 
book  of  Job  is  a  drama,  or  actual  History,  for  it  represents 
the  feelings  of  the  writer  and  the  readers,  at  the  time  of  its 
being  composed,  whenever  that  was.  No  one  in  these  last 
days  would  dream  of  sacrificing  beasts  in  atonement  for  sin, 
not  even  the  Hebrews  of  Houndsditch  ;  and  yet  in  all  Pagan 
Annals  of  the  past,  and  all  narratives  of  Pagan  customs  in  the 
present,  Sacrifice  in  some  form,  and  even  Human  Sacrifice, 
is  found  to  be  the  chief  lever  for  obtaining  God's  pardon, 
and  protection.  The  abstract  Idea  is  dead,  but  there  are  still 
survivals  of  antetypes,  analogies,  dedications,  and  mere  verbiage 
of  Ritual,  where  the  ancient  word  is  used  to  express  a  later 
conception,  such  as  "the  Sacrifice  of  God  is  a  broken  Spirit"; 
"we  render  our  Souls  and  bodies  a  living  Sacrifice";  and  in 
one  of  the  French  translations  of  the  New  Testament  the 
technical  word  Upcv<s  is  rendered  by  "  Sacrifateur."  The  Jews 
in  their  Synagogues  in  London  in  this  epoch  pray,  that 
the  institution  of  Sacrifice  may  be  restored  ;  the  enlightened 
Hebrews  protest  in  vain  against  this  Archaic  conception. 
(Jewish  Quarterly  Review,  Feb.,   1893.) 

This  very  year,  January  7,  I  read  in  The  Graphic,  how  a  sheep 
was  sacrificed  by  the  Mahometan  Rulers  of  Syria,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  railway  being  commenced  from  Haifa  to 
Damascus.  Paul,  in  his  Epistles  to  the  Galatians,  iii,  13,  and 
Ephesians,  v,  2,  seems  to  borrow  a  Homeric  Idea,  and,  sniffing 
the  well-known  smell  in  the  Temple  Court,  writes  of  a  "Sacrifice 
of  sweet  savour,"  though  in  a  metaphorical  sense.  The 
enormous  number  of  victims  attributed  to  Solomon  in  the 
Chronicles  on  the  opening  of  the  Temple,  must  be  a  gross 
exaggeration,  or  a  wicked,  and  frightful,  cruelty  to  brute  beasts. 
Homer  tells  us  of  hecatombs,  but  a  hecatomb  is  as  nothing 
compared  to  Hebrew  annals.  Of  Human  Sacrifice  we  have 
instances  among  the  Druids  of  Britain,  the  Azteks  of  Mexico, 
the  Polynesians  of  Oceania;  among  the  Greeks  the  Sacrifice  of 
Iphigenia,  among  the  Hebrews  the  case  of  Abraham  and 
Isaac,  and  Jephthah,  and  the  passing  children  through  the  fire  ; 
in  India  it  is  only  a  quarter  of  a  century  back,  that  the  practice 
was  put  down  by  force  of  arms  among  a  non-Arian  tribe  in  the 
Province  of  Bangal. 

A  terrible  example  of  the  remains  of  heathenism  in  Russia 


(      49       ) 

is  mentioned  in  the  Jlfoscow  Gazette,  and  other  journals.  A  trial, 
in  1894,  took  place  of  a  number  of  peasants  living  in  a  district 
of  Kazan  for  killing  one  of  their  numbers  as  a  Sacrifice  to  the 
idols  of  the  Votjaks,  a  Finn  Race,  of  whom  considerable 
numbers  continue  to  live  in  more  or  less  uncivilized  conditions 
along  the  Volga  between  the  Viatka  and  Kama  rivers. 

The  Sacrifice  of  female  chastity,  either  in  the  ordinary  way, 
or  by  connection  with  a  stone  lingam,  is  more  disgusting,  though 
less  bloody. 

Socrates'  dying  words  were,  "A  cock  to  ^Esculapius."  In 
the  Anthology  we  read  : 

"  Rode,  caper,  vitem,  tamen  hinc,  cum  stabis  ad  aram. 
In  tua  quod  spargi  cornua  possit,  erit." 

This  shows  how  a  vegetable  libation  of  wine  was  coupled  with 
the  animal  Sacrifice. 

But  presents  were  also  offered,  and  I  fear  are  still,  to 
Demi-gods  and  Demi-goddesses,  under  the  name  of  Saints  and 
Saintesses.  In  Virgil  we  read  how  the  poor  Trojan  women,  in 
the  agony  of  the  siege,  took  a  garment  to  offer  to  the  goddess, 
who  would  not  look  at  them.  In  how  many  a  Romish  Chapel 
altar-cloths,  candlesticks,  diamonds,  are  offered  to  saints,  who, 
it  is  to  be  feared,  have  never  evidenced  their  satisfaction  to  their 
worshippers. 

Aristophanes  exposes  the  gross  conception,  that  the  gods 
and  goddesses  actually  consumed  the  food  offered:  in  "The 
Birds"  he  describes,  how  a  wall  was  run  up  in  mid-Heaven,  and 
the  gods  of  Olympus  were  starved  out.  Homer  tells  us,  how 
the  gods  used  to  go  to  dine  with  the  blameless  Ethiopians.  In 
the  Apocryphal  Book  "Bel  and  the  Dragon"  we  read,  how  the 
priest  ate  the  sacrifices,  and  made  the  people  believe  that 
the  god  ate  it.  No  doubt  the  Hebrew  Priest  lived  by  the  Altar  : 
his  salary  was  paid,  therefore,  in  slaughtered  beasts.  This  is 
clear  from  the  story  of  the  sons  of  Eli  in  I  Samuel,  ii. 

The  offering  of  Sacrifice  is  described  as  being  of  two 
kinds:  (i)  fruits  of  the  earth,  (2)  animals,  including  Human 
beings;  and  with  two  objects:  (i)  hostia  honorata,  a  token  of 
love  and  gratitude,  and  (2)  hostia  piaculans,  an  atonement,  a 
bribe  to  ward  off  evil,  a  price  to  purchase  some  gift  (Enc. 
Brit,  xxi,  p.  132).  Neither  Greek  philosopher,  nor  Jewish 
Rabbi,  ever  got  clear  of  the  Idea,  that  Sacrifice  afforded  some 
physical  satisfaction  to  the  Deity:  if  it  did  not  actually  feed 
him,  he  was  at  least  gratified  by  the  odour:  this  was  the  only 
intercourse  betwixt  the  Deity  and  man  :  they  shared  the  same 
feast:  such  Worship  was  closely  National,  for  men  of  different 
tribes  could  not  eat  or  drink  together.  The  Idea  of  Sacrifice 
occupied  an  important  place  in  early  Christianity  :  it  had  been 

4 


(       50       ) 

a  fundamental  element  of  both  Jewish  and  Gentile  Religions, 
and  Christianity  had  to  absorb  and  modify  it.  But  already  to 
many  Jews,  and  Gentiles,  the  conception  was  dying  out,  and 
a  new  belief  had  sprung  up,  that  the  most  appropriate  offering 
to  the  Deity  was  that  of  a  pure  and  humble  heart,  and  that 
Prayer  was  the  proper  channel  of  communication.  Among  the 
ignorant  the  gross  conception  still  survives :  the  people  of 
the  Panjab  only  a  few  years  ago  believed,  that  the  British 
Government,  when  commencing  a  public  work  of  importance, 
had  given  orders  secretly  to  collect  children's  heads,  as  a 
propitiatory  Sacrifice  to  the  River  Deities.  Unless  they  had 
still  within  themselves  the  fundamental  Idea  of  Sacrifice  of 
animals,  they  would  not  have  attributed  such  a  scheme  to 
others.  A  rumour  of  such  a  kind  would  avail  nothing  in 
Europe. 

Human  Sacrifice  disappeared  by  the  substitution  of  animal 
Sacrifice.  We  read  in  li  Kings,  iii,  27,  that  Mesha,  king  of 
Moab,  about  895  B.C.,  "  took  his  eldest  son,  who  should  have 
reigned  in  his  stead,  and  offered  him  on  the  wall  for  a  burnt- 
offering."  We  must  recollect,  that  this  is  the  statement  of  a 
hostile  narrator,  but  we  find  in  II  Kings,  xxiii,  10,  that  in 
625  B.C.  the  residents  at  Jerusalem  made  their  sons,  or 
daughters,  pass  through  fire  to  Molech  ;  and  in  II  Kings,  xxi,  6, 
and  II  Chronicles,  xxiii,  6,  we  read  that  Manasseh,  king  of 
Judah,  made  his  son,  and  children,  pass  through  the  fire:  and 
this  is  the  report  of  two  National  Chroniclers,  who  may  be 
credited  with  knowledge.  Animal  Sacrifice  disappeared  under 
the  influence  of  civilization,  and  in  the  case  of  Christians  by 
the  conviction,  that  Christ  was  the  complete,  a.nd  Jina/,  Sacrifice  : 
the  sacerdotal  Sacrifice  of  bread  and  wine  in  its  extreme  view 
is  but  a  remembrance  of  this  one  great  Sacrifice,  for  that  form 
of  Worship  has  had  its  day.  If  by  some  turn  of  Fortune's 
wheel  the  Hebrew  Race  were  to  get  possession  of  Jerusalem, 
and  rebuild  their  temple,  they  would  find  insuperable  obstacles 
to  the  reintroduction  of  a  rite,  which  is  out  of  date. 

The  Pagan  Idea  of  Religion  was  a  quid  for  a  quo  :  "  I 
sacrifice  to  the  gods:  the  gods  look  after  my  welfare":  the 
remnant  of  the  Idea  clings  to  the  Worship  of  Saints.  A  bowl 
of  milk  was  put  out  by  the  farmer's  wife  to  conciliate  Robin 
Goodfellow.  A  low  view  exists  among  some  Christians  : 
how  can  you  expect  God  to  look  after  you,  if  you  never 
go  to  Church,  and  say  your  prayers  ?  but  Love,  not  Fear, 
should  be  the  attraction  to  God  :  Faith  and  Hope  lead 
up  to  Love:  "Though  He  slay  me,  I  will  trust  in  Him."  But 
the  Sacrifice  of  Self,  the  readiness  to  lay  Self  on  the  Altar 
of  God,  in  God's  service,  for  the  saving  of  Souls  of  fellow- 
creatures,    that    great    and    inestimable    gift    of   Self-Sacrifice, 


(       51       ) 

still  survives,  and  will  last  as  long  as  Human  hearts  beat :  the 
antetype  has  swallowed  up  the  type.  The  Roman,  who  leapt 
into  the  yawning  chasm  to  save  his  country,  set  the  example  : 
the  Idea  seems  monstrous  to  slaughter,  not  the  wild  beast,  but 
the  domestic  animals,  such  as  oxen,  sheep,  goats,  pigeons,  and 
turtle-doves:  it  is  possible  that  a  lamb,  which  was  the  playmate 
of  the  children,  would  have  its  throat  cut,  as  a  Religious  act, 
by  the  father.  We  do  not  read  of  a  single  Hebrew  man  or 
woman  offering  themselves  as  a  bona-fide  Sacrifice  :  instances 
occur  of  devotion  to  country  like  that  of  Judith,  but  as  a  rule 
devout  men  preferred  offering  a  substitute,  and  one  cannot 
blame  them :  so  that  there  was  no  personal  service,  and  it  goes 
without  saying,  that  the  liberal  Sacrifices  of  the  great  and 
powerful  were  violently  supplied  from  the  herds  of  the  weak 
and  poor.  To  surrender  life  for  the  welfare  of  another  is  the 
perfection  of  Human  Virtue,  Love  stronger  than  Death. 
Scarcely  for  a  righteous  man  before  the  great  Anno  Domini 
would  a  man  die,  however  ready  he  was  to  slaughter  innocent 
animals,  and  turn  his  place  of  Worship  into  a  Butcher's 
Shambles. 

The  Hindu  went  further:  he  believed,  that  the  power  of 
Sacrifice  was  so  great,  that  the  gods  could  be  compelled  to  do 
what  the  worshipper  required.  With  the  Greeks  the  use  of  the 
word  hafjLov,  in  connection  with  the  completion  of  a  contract, 
shows,  that  the  death  of  one  of  God's  creatures  was  considered 
necessary  to  ratify  an  agreement.  No  Divine  Command  is 
quoted  as  an  authority  for  this  institution  :  it  is  mentioned  in 
connection  with  the  two  first  of  the  Human  Race  that  were 
born,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe,  that  the  practice  was 
universal,  and  the  spirit  of  the  word  has  survived  to  our  time, 
though  for  centuries  the  practice  has  ceased. 

"  New  treasures  still  of  countless  price, 
God  will  provide  for  Sacrifice." 

(Keble.) 

To  what  a  deep  degradation  the  custom  had  fallen  is  evidenced 
by  the  assembled  Greek  leaders,  at  the  advice  of  their  Priest, 
not  deeming  it  unworthy  of  themselves  after  due  deliberation 
to  sacrifice  the  life  of  a  young  girl  :  the  conscience  of  mankind 
was  improving,  for  within  a  few  centuries  before  the  great  Anno 
Domini,  Lucretius,  the  Poet,  wrote  his  scathing  condemnation  : 
and  we  read  that  the  Sect  of  the  Essenes  in  the  second  century 
before  Anno  Domini  declined  to  make  bloody  Sacrifice,  and 
substituted  vegetable  offerings  (Renan :  Israel,  vol.  v,  p.  66). 
Professor  Robertson  Smith,  in  his  Burnett  Lectures,  Aberdeen, 
gives  an  elaborate  exposition  of  the  theory,  that  the  original 


(       52       ) 

Idea  of  Sacrifice  was  that  of  a  meal  partaken  in  common  by 
the  members  of  a  particular  tribe,  and  their  tribal  Deity. 
(Fundamental  Institution  of  Semitic  Religion,  18S9.) 

The  gross  view  of  Sacrifice  no  doubt  was,  that  a  bloody  king, 
a  dishonest  official,  a  bad,  libidinous,  cruel  man,  could  throw  oflf 
in  some  such  way  the  result  of  an  evil  life,  and  of  all  the  misery, 
which  was  brought  on  his  contemporaries,  by  a  spell  of  osten- 
tatious repentance,  and  the  Sacrifice  of  innocent  animals  to 
conciliate  a  god,  whom  he  had  neglected,  insulted,  and  offended 
all  his  life.  The  Hindu  Moralist  saw  this;  in  the  Vishnu 
Parana  I  read  : 

"  Holy  acts  of  Sacrifice  are  performed  by  those,  who  are 
"  devoted  to  their  own  duties,  whose  conduct  is  right  and  free 
"  from  blemish,  who  are  good,  and  tread  in  good  paths." 

Seneca  discovered  that  "  the  gods  were  not  to  be  worshipped 
by  victims,  however  costly  and  refulgent  with  gold,  but  to  be 
honoured  with  a  pious  and  upright  heart." 

The  Hebrew  Prophets  and  Psalmist  had  long  before  pointed 
this  out : 

"  The  Sacrifice  of  God  is  a  broken  Spirit." 

"  Make  no  more  vain  oblations:  incense  is  an  abomination 
to  Me." 

"  I  will  have  INIercy,  and  not  Sacrifice." 

Yet  still  up  to  the  very  last  day  of  the  existence  of  Jerusalem 
the  daily  Sacrifice,  during  the  Roman  siege,  was  performed,  as  if 
it  were  of  vital  importance  to  the  State  and  the  Religion.  In 
the  obliquity  of  their  vision  they  seemed  quite  oblivious  of  the 
change  of  the  drift  of  thought  of  mankind,  or  were  determined 
to  despise  it.  The  Jews  of  the  Dispersion  could  have  had  no 
Sacrifice,  and  learnt  to  do  very  well  without  it,  as  the  Jews  do 
at  the  present  time. 

All  Human  Institutions,  even  when  divinely  originated,  have 
the  term  of  their  existence  fixed  ;  if  allowed  to  exist  beyond 
that,  then  they  become  anachronisms,  because  the  Ideal  of 
moral  conceptions  has  risen  above  their  level.  It  is  quite 
unnecessary  to  condemn  the  practice  in  past  ages,  or  to  pass 
any  opinion  upon  the  possibility  of  its  having  satisfied  the 
requirements  of  a  people  no  longer  existing.  Sacrifice  is 
certainly  one  of  the  Institutions,  which  the  world  has  out- 
grown. The  most  ignorant  peasant  of  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury would  smile  at  the  Idea  of  Sacrificing  a  turtle-dove  on  the 
occasion  of  the  Baptism  of  his  child. 

Libations  are  in  some  degree  subsidiary  to  Sacrifice :  when 
the  gross  conception  of  the  Deity  consuming  the  food  and 
drink  offered  was  outgrown,  the  former  was  consumed  by  fire, 


(       53       ) 

and  the  latter  poured  out  on  the  ground.  In  Psahn  1,  13,  we 
have  the  following  : 

"  Will  I  eat  the  flesh  of  bulls,  or  drink  the  blood  of  goats  ?  " 

But  there  is  no  other  instance.  In  the  Gr^co-Roman  world 
it  was  exceedingly  common.  Dr.  Legge  tells  us,  that  to  this 
day  in  China  libations  are  made,  not  in  the  sense  of  propitiation, 
or  expiation  of  Sin,  but  as  tributes  of  duty  and  gratitude,  the 
Idea  of  substitution  having  never  entered  the  Chinese  mind. 
(Religion  of  China,  p.  53.) 

5.  Prayer. 

All  mankind  in  past  and  present  times,  and  in  all  Regions, 
have  been  ready  to  have  recourse  to  Prayer  of  some  sort  or 
other:  they  have  recognised,  that  there  existed  a  Power  greater 
than  themselves,  and  they  tried  to  get  help  from  Him,  flying  to 
the  Deity  for  help  in  doubt,  creeping  to  Him  in  sorrow :  their 
Prayers  may  have  been  most  unworthy,  but  the  fact  remains, 
that  they  prayed ;  they  believed  that  they  would  get  something, 
and,  moreover,  in  many  cases  they  expressed  thanks  for  mercies 
received  in  reply  to  Prayer. 

Prayer  was  often  an  act  of  merchandise  :  adoration  was  oifered 
to  the  Deity,  His  protection  solicited  and  expected  :  if  the  Deity 
failed,  the  petitioner  would  go  elsewhere  :  both  Sacrifice  and 
Prayer  were  commercial  transactions :  "  do  ut  des "  ;  Jacob 
make  this  very  clear  (Genesis,  xxviii,  20-22)  :  "  If  God  will  be 
"  with  me,  and  will  keep  me  in  this  way  that  I  go,  and  will  give 
"  me  bread  to  eat,  and  raiment  to  put  on  ...  .  then  shall  the 
"  Lord  be  my  God  ....  and  of  all  that  Thou  shalt  give  me, 
"  I  will  surely  give  the  tenth  unto  Thee." 

A  universal  Hindu  Conference  was  held  at  Banaras,  1892, 
and  a  Report  read  on  the  subject  of  the  deterioration  of  the 
Brahmanical  Religion  in  its  practice.  One  of  the  conclusions 
of  the  Report  was,  that  all  the  Priests  of  the  Temple  should  off'er 
Prayer  to  the  Supreme  Power,  so  that  their  Religion  might  be 
saved  from  the  state,  to  which  it  had  sunk.  A  day  for  general 
Prayer  was  fixed.     (G.  Smith:   Conversion  of  India,  p.  220.) 

We  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  Roman  Soldier  at  the  epoch 
of  Anno  Domini :  he  was  not  necessarily  an  Italian,  or  a 
European,  but  certainly  a  Gentile ;  but  he  is  described  as 
"  a  devout  man,  and  one  that  feared  God,  with  all  his  house, 
which  gave  much  alms  to  the  people,  and  prayed  to  God  alway  " 
(Acts,  x,  2).  No  doubt  many  of  the  Jews,  who  opposed  the 
new  movement,  were  devout,  almsgiving,  and  prayerful,  very 
much  as  the  Hindu,  who  are  described  in  the  preceding 
paragraph. 


(       54       ) 

When  a  man  in  an  Oriental  country  tries  to  get  something 
out  of  one  higher  in  position  and  power  than  himself, 
he  approaches  with  flattery:  all  know  it  in  India:  officials 
are  told  that,  they  are  the  wisest,  and  the  best :  the  petitioner 
M'ould  bribe,  if  he  dared  :  he  gets  others  more  influential  to 
intercede  for  him  :  this  is  the  instinct,  motif,  and  origin 
of  Prayer.  He  clothes  his  Deity  with  all  the  tastes,  weaknesses, 
of  his  own  Race :  he  tries  music,  and  litanies,  and  hymns, 
to  conciliate  Him,  and  sometimes  has  recourse  to  abuse,  when 
he  cannot  get  what  he  wants. 

Threats  were  held  out  to  the  special  Deity,  warning  him 
that  he  must  do  his  duty,  or  take  the  consequences.  An 
Egyptian  woman  in  childbed  identifies  herself  with  the  goddess 
Isis,  calls  on  the  other  gods  to  assist  her  in  her  labour,  and 
threatens  the  direst  consequences  to  the  whole  world,  if 
anything  happens  to  her.  Thus  Prayer  was  superseded  by 
menace.  Porphyry,  270  a.d.,  mentions  a  case,  and  remarks  on 
the  madness  of  man,  who  thus  threatens  Powers,  whom  he  deems 
to  be  so  weak  and  feeble  as  to  listen  to  threats.  Analogous  to 
this  is  the  Spanish  sailor,  who  flogs  the  Statue  of  St.  Martin,  if 
he  does  not  supply  the  wind  required. 

In  Brittany  the  customs  of  the  population  were  primitive, 
and  their  Religion  was  a  sort  of  Christianity  grafted  on  the 
most  evident  Paganism.  They  worshipped  innumerable  Saints 
unknown  to  the  Roman  Calendar,  and  did  not  scruple  to 
threaten  these  Divinities,  when  they  wanted  anything  from 
them.  A  blacksmith,  whose  child  was  ill,  stalked  into  the 
roadside  Chapel  where  the  statue  of  his  favourite  Saint  stood, 
and,  brandishing  a  red-hot  horse-shoe,  threatened  to  "shoe 
the  saint,"  if  the  child  did  not  recover. 

The  Tibetan  Buddhist  cuts  out  figures  of  horses  in  paper, 
and  commits  them  to  the  wind  with  a  view  of  carrying  help, 
paper-help,  to  some  traveller.  The  Poet  Horace  tells  us  of  the 
owners  of  merchandise  in  home-returning  vessels  running  down 
to  the  shore  to  appease  the  Storm-gods  by  their  "miserable" 
Prayers  and  vows  to  save  their  profits  from  the  storm.  The 
Prayer  of  the  British  Missionary  Society  is  for  more  money,  and 
when  the  Lord  of  the  Harvest,  under  which  term  Missionary 
Societies  habitually  address  the  Ruler  of  the  World,  grants  it, 
then  the  cry  is  for  more  men  to  spend  the  money:  at  the  same 
time,  in  France,  the  Lord  of  the  Vineyard  is  petitioned  by 
the  owner  to  send  abundant  grapes,  and  of  such  quality  as 
will  make  good  intoxicating  wine.  I  have  known  portions  of  an 
Indian  District,  in  which  directly  contrary  prayers  are  being 
made  :  the  cultivators  of  the  cotton-fields  implore  their  particular 
local  Deity  to  send  rain,  as  their  crop  is  grown  in  unirrigated 
soil,  as  a  rain-crop  :  money  is  offered  in  the  temple  to  conciliate 


(       55       ) 

the  great  Cloud-compeller.  At  the  same  time  the  cultivator 
of  the  sugar-cane,  which  is  an  irrigated  crop,  dependent  on 
wells,  prays  that  rain  be  not  sent,  as  it  will  be  as  untimely  as 
rain  in  hay-season  in  Europe.  Rival  Sovereigns  at  war  are 
having  "  Te  Deums"  intoned  in  their  several  Cathedrals  at  the 
same  hour  on  account  of  the  same  event. 

It  is  clear  that  two  sets  of  people  may  be  praying  for  the  very 
contrary  result :  the  passengers  of  a  ship  in  a  storm  were 
praying  for  safety,  and  vowing  a  portion  of  their  merchandise 
to  their  Deity;  the  "wreckers"  on  a  dangerous  coast  were 
supplicating  their  Deity  to  send  them  spoil,  promising  a  share. 

Throughout  the  great  Sanskrit  Epic  of  the  Ramayana,  we  have 
accounts  of  blessings  exacted  from  the  unwilling  Deity  by  the 
force  of  Prayer.  The  opponents  of  the  Bill  proposed  a  few 
years  ago  to  modify  the  existing  custom,  having  the  force  of  law, 
regarding  infant-marriages  in  Hindu  Families,  held  a  Religious 
service  at  Kalighat,  near  Calcutta,  in  the  year  1891,  and  offered 
Prayers  and  Sacrifices  to  the  goddess  Kali,  to  induce  her  to 
influence  the  Viceroy  of  India  not  to  pass  the  Bill  into  law. 
Only  in  1893  the  Priests  of  Rome  in  Hungary  distributed  forms 
of  printed  Prayers  to  the  Virgin  Mary  for  ignorant  fools  to 
repeat  to  prevent  the  introduction  by  law  of  Civil  Contract  of 
]\Iatrimony :  it  sounds  ridiculous :  the  majority  of  mankind  are 
fools.  Hired  mourners  were  called  in  to  say  Prayers  after  a 
death ;  hireling  Priests  are  still  called  in  to  repeat  INIasses ; 
vain  repetitions  are  common  in  all  countries:  "Ave  Maria"; 
"  Ram  Ram";  "Bismillah."  The  Prayer  of  the  Buddhist  is  for 
nothing,  and  to  nobody :  it  is  merely  the  use  of  a  form  of  words 
for  the  purpose  of  heaping  up  merit :  the  prayer-wheel  was 
invented  by  the  Tibetans,  that  the  words,  "  Om  IMani  Pani  hom  " 
("Oh  the  Beautiful  Lotus  !"),  might  be  turned  round  by  the  hand. 

Specimens  of  Prayers  in  use  with  the  Brahmanical,  the 
Zoroastrian,  the  Confucian,  the  Egyptian,  the  Mahometan, 
have  been  collected  (Gifford  Lectures,  1893,  p.  22).  They 
present  a  strange  picture  of  the  common  infirmity  of  the  Human 
Race : 

"  The  kind  Creator  casts  His  pitying  eyes 
On  the  pale  upturned  faces,  and  denies." 

Hear  about  the  Jews  in  England  : 

"  Most  of  the  Jews  of  the  poorer  parts  of  London,  when  they 
"  wish  to  say  their  Prayer,  go  through  a  series  of  sounds,  of  the 
"  meaning  of  which  they  have  not  the  slightest  idea,  and  which, 
"  as  they  utter  them,  often  have  no  meaning  at  all.  Should 
"  anyone  enter  the  room,  as  the  Jew  stands  at  his  devotions, 
"  he  is  not  at  all  disturbed  ;  he  merely  turns  round  and  talks  to 


(       56       ) 

"  the  visitor  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then  returns  to  the  per- 
"  functory  repetition  of  sounds  !  Again,  after  a  minute  or  so 
"  he  renews  his  conversation,  and  once  more  returns  to  his 
"  Religious  duties,  and  so  on,  until  there  is  no  one  to  talk  to, 
•'  or  the  Prayer  is  over.  Stranger  than  all  this,  is  the  fact,  that 
"  it  is,  humanly  speaking,  impossible  to  convince  him,  that  all 
"  this  is  a  mockery ;  so  low  is  the  Jewish  estimate  of  the 
"  Divine  Mind,"     (J.  H.  Scott,  Rector  of  Spitalfields.) 

Prayer  is  nowhere  commanded  as  a  duty  in  the  Hebrew  law, 
and  Prayers  were  only  prescribed  at  the  Sacrifices  on  the  day 
of  Atonement,  and  the  thanksgiving  offering  for  firstfruits :  it 
is  probable  that  it  always  accompanied  Sacrifice  :  we  read  in 
Genesis,  iv,  26,  that  men  began  "  to  call  upon  the  name  of  the 
Lord":  in  the  century  preceding  Anno  Domini  there  was  an 
excess  of  formal  Prayer  among  the  Pharisees. 

The  Poet  Juvenal,  nineteen  centuries  back,  had  discovered 
the  vanity  of  all  this,  and  remarks  that  "  Man  is  held  dearer 
"  by  the  Deity,  than  he  is  by  the  ]\Ian  himself,  and  that  the 
"  Deity  knows  best  what  is  really  useful,  or  really  detrimental, 
"  to  Mankind."  I  quote  his  magnificent  lines,  as  a  landmark 
in  Human  progress  : 

"  Ut  tamen  et  poscas  aliquid,  voveasque  sacellis 
"  Exta,  et  candiduli  divina  tomacula  porci : 
"  Orandum  est,  ut  sit  mens  sana  in  corpore  sano  : 
"  Fortem  posce  animum,  mortis  terrore  carentem, 
"  Qui  spatium  vitas  extrema  inter  munera  ponat 
"  Naturae,  qui  ferre  queat  quoscunque  labores ; 
"  Nesciat  irasci,  cupiat  nihil :   Semita  certe 
"  Tranquillae  per  virtutem  patet  unica  vitae." 

{Sa/.  X,   346.) 

To  give  an  idea  of  the  abuse  of  Prayer  I  quote  the  following, 
lately  printed  (Daughters  of  Syria,  April,  1893):  "We  moved 
"  to  another  village  occupied  by  Druses  in  Mount  Lebanon  ; 
"  we  lost  nothing  all  the  time,  except  one  teaspoon,  and  we 
"  prayed  about  it,  and  it  was  brought  back.  What  a  gracious 
"  Master  we  have,  so  ready  to  undertake  any  little  detail  of  our 
"  daily  life  I  "  This  shows  how  very  slightly  the  Religious 
conception  has  advanced  since  the  days  of  the  Hebrews. 

The  approach  to  the  Deity  in  Prayer  has  been  at  all  times 
either  collective  or  private,  either  real  or  formal.  We  know 
what  the  teaching  of  Christ  was,  but  it  has  made  little 
efifect  in  modern  Christian  Churches.  We  have  a  form  of 
words,  very  often  in  a  language  totally  unknown  to  the  one 
who  prays;  in  words  familiar  as  regards  sound,  but  the  meaning 
of  which   is    quite   unknown.     Prayers  are  offered  for  things, 


(      57      ) 

which  the  worshipper  cares  not  for,  a  mere  common  form, 
such  as  the  Deity  influencing  the  heart  of  the  Sovereign,  or 
asking  for  Peace  within  their  own  borders,  when  the  Nation 
is  attacking  weaker  tribes  in  Asia  or  Africa  all  round  without 
any  provocation.  Then,  again.  Music  in  many  Churches  crushes 
the  prayer,  or  the  words  are  taken  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  con- 
gregation by  unconverted  young  men  and  boys  in  white  surplices, 
who  happen  to  be  gifted  with  the  power  of  sweet  sounds ;  or 
it  is  intoned  in  a  non-natural  way  by  a  trained  Clerk  in  Orders. 
When  civilized  Nations  act  in  the  present  day  in  such  manner, 
how  can  we  wonder  at  the  conduct  of  the  Priests  of  Baal  on 
Mount  Carmel  ?  They  at  least  had  Faith,  though  in  a  wrong 
person,  and  they  gave  their  lives  for  that  Faith,  and  were  as 
much  iNIartyrs,  as  any  recorded  in  History. 

The  Roman  Catholic,  the  Ritualist,  the  Evangelical,  the 
Hindu,  Buddhist,  Mahometan,  are  using  the  same  weapons 
each  after  their  own  method  to  confound  each  other.  The 
stereotyped  form  of  an  Evangelical  Meeting  is  to  utter  Prayer, 
that  things  may  turn  out  in  the  way  that  those  who  pray  wish : 
"insanum  vulgus  vult  fieri  quod  vult":  that  the  Papists  may 
be  confounded,  the  Ritualists  be  put  to  flight,  and  the  vacant 
see  be  not  filled  up  with  another  High  Church  wolf;  that  all 
men  be  brought  to  the  Truth  {i.e.  the  Truth  as  held  by  the 
Meeting) ;  that  the  Indo-Chinese  Opium-Trade  be  stopped,  the 
Slave-dealer  be  shot  down,  U-ganda  and  Ma-Shona-land  be 
annexed  to  Great  Britain  ;  that  the  Missionary's  wife  be  safely 
delivered  of  her  tenth  child,  that  suitable  candidates  come 
forward  for  vacant  posts,  and  that  the  Lord  of  the  Harvest  send 
bread  to  feed  these  extra  mouths,  and  support  their  large 
families  of  children;  that  the  followers  of  the  false  prophet  may 
be  routed ;  that  the  real  meaning  of  Faith,  as  interpreted  in  the 
Church  ^lissionary  Society's  InteUigejicer,  Sept.,  1893,  p.  711, 
be  practically  and  unfalteringly  evidenced  by  contributions 
increased  to  meet  a  standard  of  expenditure,  such  as  no  cautious 
Christian  can  possibly  approve  of. 

Within  a  few  streets  we  have  a  procession  of  the  Guards 
of  the  League  of  the  Cross,  carrying  a  banner  of  "  Our  Lady 
of  Ransom,"  and  singing  such  hymns  as  : 

"  Oh  !  when  shall  we  gaze  on 

"  Her  Glory  restored  ? 
"  Oh  !  when  will  poor  England 

"  Return  to  Her  Lord  } 
"  Behold  in  St.  Paul's 

"  The  sweet  INIother  replaced, 
"  And  Westminster  now  with 

"  Her  image  is  graced." 


(       58       ) 

The  Procession  passed  by  a  side  street,  in  which  there  stands 
a  Jewish  Synagogue,  where  Prayers  are  still  offered  for  the 
Restitution  of  the  Sacrifice  of  Animals,  where  male  babies  have 
their  persons  cruelly  mutilated,  and  animals  are  killed  for 
consumption  in  a  manner  believed  by  many  to  be  calculated 
to  put  them  to  unnecessary  torture  for  the  purpose  of  main- 
taining the  husk  of  an  Idea  of  a  few  thousands,  who  have 
missed  step  in  the  spiritual  progress  of  Religious  conceptions. 

I  remember  how  in  Paris  thousands  of  women  thronged  the 
Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame,  praying  all  night,  that  the  Empress 
Eugenie  might  be  delivered  of  a  son  :  were  their  Prayers  heard  ? 
Did  any  advantage  to  the  Nation  at  large,  or  to  those  women 
in  particular,  come  of  it  ? 

The  Poet  Milton,  in  one  of  his  beautiful  odes,  describes 
a  noble  Christian  lady  as  "calling  the  heathen  goddess  Lucina 
to  her  throes."  The  Amir  Dost  Mahomed  of  Kabul,  while 
a  prisoner  in  North  India,  was  offering  his  regular  Prayer  in 
due  form,  when  he  overheard  two  Christians,  sitting  near  him, 
conversing,  and  stating  some  facts  about  a  horse :  the  Dost 
turned  round  and  said  in  Persian.  "  Darogh  ast"  ("it  is  a  lie"), 
and  then  went  on  with  his  Arabic  Prayers,  not  one  word  of 
which  he  understood  any  better  than  an  Italian  peasant  does 
of  a  Latin  Litany.  When  the  Khedive  went  to  pay  his  respects 
to  the  Sultan  at  Constantinople,  the  Court  Circular  notes,  how 
they  went  together  to  the  weekly  Prayers.  The  great  Reformer 
of  the  Panjab,  Baba  Nanak.  enlarges  on  the  subject  of  Prayer, 
and  tells  one  of  his  enquirers,  that  his  Prayer  was  nothing,  as  he 
was  thinking  all  the  time  of  his  horses.  The  idea  of  Prayer 
entertained  "by  the  Jews  is  illustrated  by  the  fact,  that  in  the 
Song  of  the  Three  Children,  all  the  elements,  seasons,  the 
animate,  the  inanimate,  world,  are  represented  as  offering  praise 
to  the  Deity  with  much  the  same  spiritual  force  as  poor 
ignorant  men. 

I  have  brought  together  these  instances  from  different 
countries,  and  ages,  to  illustrate  how  far  the  conception,  or 
practice,  of  Prayer  has  departed  from  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
and  the  Epistle' of  James,  v,  i6,  and  it  is  difficult  to  say,  whether 
the  privilege  of  approaching  the  Deity  in  the  humble  accents  of 
Praise,  Confession  of  Sin,  and  Prayer,  has  been  more  painfully 
abused  by  heathen  Monarchs,  or  sensational  self-satisfied 
individuals,  and  coteries,  in  the  middle  classes  of  Great 
Britain. 

When  we  consider  the  words  of  the  Hymns  of  the  Pagan 
world,  such  as  the  Hymns  to  Amen  Ra  (Records  of  the  Past), 
the  Hymns  of  the  early  Veda,  and  portions  of  the  Bhagavad- 
Gita,  passages  in  Homer  and  Virgil,  and  the  Athenian 
Tragedians,  we  cannot  but  remark  with  how  strong  a  uniformity 


(       59       ) 

of  language  the  feelings  of  the  Human  heart  find  utterance, 
when  under  the  pressure  of  trouble,  or  the  conviction  of  sin  : 

"  tKWI/,    €KWl',      'lUUiplOV'      OVK     CI pUlfffO jiiai. 

It  is  not  a  monopoly  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  though  a 
beautiful  feature  in   them. 

Not  only  is  Prayer  available  to  ask  for  spiritual  or  material 
blessings  for  the  one,  who  may  offer  Prayer,  but  malignant 
Prayers  are  offered  to  injure  others  :  thus  we  read  that  Elias 
made  Prayer,  that  there  should  be  no  rain  for  3J  years 
(fcVt  T^s  7/y?)  in  the  land.  It  may  mean  the  Kingdom  of  Israel, 
or  all  the  world  over,  and  was  a  dreadful  request  to  make  by  an 
erring  Human  creature.  In  China  one  man,  the  Sovereign  of 
China,  though  of  an  alien  Race  from  his  subjects,  is  the  only 
person  permitted  to  present  to  the  Lord  of  the  Universe  the 
National  offerings  of  Reverence,  Gratitude,  and  Prayer.  In  India 
such  duties  devolve  on  the  Father  of  each  family  just  as  much 
as  labouring  to  procure  their  daily  food.  I  once  asked  a  young 
Hindu  what  kind  of  Prayers  he  offered  :  he  replied,  "  None,  as 
that  was  his  father's  business."  I  have  sat  in  Hindu,  and  Sikh, 
temples,  trying  to  fathom  the  motive  of  the  singsong  chanting 
of  the  Purana,  or  the  Granth,  which  my  acquired  knowledge 
enabled  me  to  follow  better  than  Priest  or  People,  but  to  the 
assembled  masses  they  were  sounds,  and  they  ejaculated  Ram 
Ram,  or  Wa  Guru,  in  return  at  intervals.  In  Japan  petitioners 
write  their  petitions  on  paper,  or  have  it  written  by  the  Priest  ; 
they  then  put  it  into  their  mouths,  and  chew  it  to  a  paste,  and 
spit  it  at  the  image  of  the  Deity  :  if  well  aimed,  and  if  the 
paper  sticks,  it  is  a  good  omen,  that  the  Prayer  is  heard 
(Cobbold's  Religion  in  Japan,  S.P.C.K.).  Homer  tells  us 
how  Ulysses  retired  to  a  solitary  place  away  from  his  companions 
to  pray  to  the  Immortal  Gods  for  their  guidance  on  his  way 
home  ;  this  shows  that  the  conceptions  of  the  Poet  at  least 
were  in  the  right  direction.  There  is  an  amazing  freshness  in 
the  outpourings  to  their  Creator  of  some  of  those  far-off  and 
despised  Pagans;  they  did  not  speak  to  cliques,  or  use  con- 
ventional tags,  to  suit  the  exacting  ears  of  their  fellow-creatures. 
Even  the  Azteks  addressed  God  in  their  Prayer,  as  "the  Power, 
"  in  whom  they  lived,  omnipotent,  omniscient,  giver  of  all  gifts, 
"  without  whom  man  is  nothing  ;  a  Power,  which  is  invisible, 
"  incorporeal,  of  perfect  perfection,  and  purity,  under  whose 
"wings  repose  and  sure  defence  can  be  found"  (Prescott : 
Mexico,  I,  p.  52). 

This  is  the  Prayer  of  the  Zoroastrians  as  recorded  in  the 
Zend-Avesta : 

"  We  worship  the  pure,  the  Lord  of  purity ;    we  worship  the 


(       60      ) 

"  Universe  of  the  true  Spirit,  visible,  invisible,  and  all  that 
"  sustains  the  welfare  of  the  good  Creator.  We  praise  all  good 
"  thoughts,  all  good  works,  all  good  deeds,  which  are  and  will 
"  be,  and  keep  pure  all  that  is  good.  We  worship  the  Wise 
"  One,  who  formed  and  furthered  the  Spirit  of  Earth  :  we 
"  worship  with  our  bodies,  and  our  Souls." 

Think  of  the  Te  Deums,  and  State  Religious  Services,  which 
took  place  after  events,  such  as  the  Battle  of  Inkermann,  1854, 
which  both  the  Russians  and  Anglo-French  claimed  as  a 
victory.  I  remember  the  story  of  a  pious  Lady,  interested  in 
Houses  for  the  Poor,  getting  the  late  Lord  Shaftesbury,  myself, 
and  others  to  a  Prayer-meeting,  and  proposing  that  we  should 
pray  to  God  to  influence  the  heart  of  a  certain  Royal  Princess 
not  to  place  High  Churchmen  on  the  Committee  of  Manage- 
ment. Lord  Shaftesbury  remonstrated  :  the  request  was  too 
strong  even  for  him,  and  he  made  a  compromise  by  agreeing  to 
call  on  the  Princess,  and  influence  her  by  Human  argument, 
instead  of  making  use  of  the  spiritual  engine,  proposed  by  the 
Evangelical  convener  of  the  meeting. 

The  practice  of  the  Buddhists  in  Tibet  to  set  a  prayer-wheel 
going  by  placing  it  in  a  mill-stream,  which  turns  round  and 
round  the  four  sacred  words,  is  often  alluded  to  with  derision  : 
it  is  forgotten,  that  the  worshippers  are  on  the  lowest  round 
of  intellectual  culture  :  their  motive  was  good  ;  their  liturgical 
apparatus  was  imperfect :  but  in  the  scale  of  measures  taken  by 
poor  man  to  approach  the  hifinite,  is  the  Tibetan  wheel  so  far 
below  the  Litanies  and  Collects  in  a  foreign  tongue,  the 
"  Dominus  Vobiscum  "  of  the  Romish,  and  "  Gospodi 
Pomeloi  "  of  the  Russian,  Church,  the  "  fabricated  "  prayer  of 
the  higher  cultured  Buddhist  (Williams:  Buddhist,  p.  154). 
On  the  other  extreme,  we  come  on  the  "agonizing  in  Prayer"  at 
Keswick,  1893  (Sunday  at  Home,  Sept.,  1893),  the  "Passionate 
Prayer  "  of  some  Poems,  the  claiming  of  a  sick  child  of  God 
in  answer  to  Prayer  by  the  Church  Missionary  Society's 
Missionaries  on  the  Niger,  the  specific  Prayer  of  the  simple- 
hearted  m.an,  who  prayed  for  £  500  per  annum,  paid  qiiariei-ly\ 
the  suggestion  of  the  Missionary  Committee-man,  that  all  the 
organized  Deputation-system  should  be  dispensed  with,  and 
that  "  the  Secretaries  should  just  go  into  the  closet,  shut  to  the 
door,  and  pray  for  the  exact  sum  required  for  the  year's 
expenses."  To  some  aged  people  the  repetition  of  Prayer  is 
a  mere  opus  operatum :  I  have  travelled  with  old  Priests  of 
Rome  in  the  train,  and  watched  them  working  hard  to  read 
their  breviary  amidst  distracting  conversation,  and  gladly 
putting  the  book  into  their  pocket,  and  looking  out  at  the 
scenery.  This  very  year,  1894,  we  find  an  Archbishop  praising 
an  aged   clergyman,   not   for   the   number  of  Souls  saved,   or 


(       61       ) 

comforted,  during  an  incumbency  extending  far  beyond  any 
profitable  use,  but  for  another  reason :  "  It  was  my  happiness 
"  in  my  former  Diocese  to  have  among  my  clergy  one  aged 
"  man  more  than  qo,  who  never  failed  to  say  his  daily  office 
"  within  his  Church,  even  when  there  was  no  Congregation, 
"  or,  as  he  happily  expressed  it,  '  nobody  but  the  Angels.' " 
Would  not  these  last  have  been  present  with  him  in  his  own 
humble  extempore  ejaculations  of  penitence,  prayer,  and  praise, 
within  his  own  chamber,  without  surplice,  or  scarf  ? 

Nothing  is  so  soul-depressing  as  to  think  out  this  serious 
subject.  The  servants  in  a  great  Nobleman's  house  are  assembled 
in  a  great  Hall,  jerked  away  from  their  domestic,  or  menial, 
duties,  by  the  clang  of  a  bell  :  the  groom  leaves  his  horse  only 
partially  rubbed  down,  the  housemaid  leaves  her  pail  on  the 
stairs,  the  cook  leaves  her  cooking  in  danger  of  being  spoiled, 
the  ladies  of  the  house  drop  the  cosmetics  and  the  paint-box, 
the  young  men  hurry  down  buttoning  their  waistcoats:  a 
miserable  form  of  words  is  read  by  a  Chaplain,  who  has  ridden 
over  from  the  next  village,  a  Chapter  from  the  Bible  is  run 
through,  and  the  party  disperse  :  opus  operatum. 

It  is  a  sad  truth,  that  the  uneducated  community  is  little, 
in  spiritual  matters,  above  the  beasts  that  perish ;  a  portion  of 
the  community  has  rarely  any  policy  for  themselves  in  anything, 
they  are  totally  devoid  of  personal  originality.  A  Sanskrit  Poet 
describes  this  class  as  "  gatanagatika,"  plodding  on  in  the  steps 
of  those  that  go  before.  They  trust  to  their  own  particular 
Newspaper  for  their  politics ;  to  their  lawyer  for  the  safety  of 
their  property  ;  to  their  doctor  for  the  well-being  of  their  vile 
bodies  ;  and  their  particular  minister  for  the  safety  of  their 
Immortal  Souls.  Many  leave  this  latter  detail  quite  out  of  the 
sphere  of  their  thoughts. 

Cardinal  Vaughan,  when  he  founded  St.  Joseph's  Foreign 
Mission  Society  with  a  College  at  Mill  Hill,  Hampstead,  in 
1868,  wrote  as  follows,  and  his  address  has  been  republished 
in  1894:  "The  contribution  of  your  Prayers  is  asked  :  this  is  a 
"  gift,  which  all  are  rich  enough  to  make,  and  it  is  a  gift  of 
"  value,  for  I  can  assert,  that  every  measure  taken  towards  the 
"  establishment  of  this  College  has  succeeded,  when  it  has 
"  been  supported,  and  furthered,  by  the  Prayers  of  holy  Souls : 
"  had  1  been  inclined  to  doubt  the  value  of  Prayer,  I  should  be 
"  worse  than  blind  to  doubt  of  its  efficacy,  after  what  I  have 
"  witnessed  of  its  power  these  past  years  "  Now  similar  Prayers 
go  up  week  by  week,  day  by  day,  from  the  Evangelical  Section 
of  the  Church,  notably  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  in  whose 
periodicals  the  Church  of  Rome,  which  Cardinal  Vaughan 
represents,  is  denounced.  From  U-Ganda,  during  the  last  two 
or  three  years,  two  conflicting  streams  of  Prayer,  one  in  French, 


(       62       ) 

one  in  English,  have  been  offered  to  the  Throne  of  Grace, 
accompanied  by  the  dying  cries  of  women  and  children, 
slaughtered  in  an  inter-Christian  struggle  to  carry  the  Gospel 
to  the  Natives  of  Central  Africa.  It  must  indeed  make  the 
Angels  weep.  In  December,  1894,  we  read  how  Cardinal 
Vaughan  has  moved  the  Archbishop  of  Toledo  to  set  the 
prayer-wheel  going  in  Spain,  for  the  conversion  of  Great 
Britain  to  the  Pope  :    "  Fiat  experimentum  in  corpore  vili." 

6.  Ritual. 

The  Religious  Idea  soon  passed  in  all  ages  and  places  into 
empty  Ritual :  it  is  one  of  the  great  sins  of  all  Religions.  The 
Church  of  Rome  delights  in  Temples,  Bells,  Music,  Incense, 
Processions,  artful  devices  of  the  senses  to  deceive  the  vulgar: 
then  come  Places  of  Refuge,  or  Sanctuaries  for  fugitive 
criminals;  Penance,  or  what  the  Hindu  calls  "  tapas,"  Expia- 
tion, Fasting,  invoking  blessing  on  animals,  on  slaves,  about 
to  be  exported  from  Africa  to  America  (see  Graphic,  Aug.  19, 
1893,  p.  232),  and  a  mass  of  folly. 

The  following  speaks  for  itself:  Dates  of  the  consecration  of 
divers  rites  and  institutions  of  the  Romish  Church:  (i)  holy 
water,  ad.  120;  (2)  penance,  ad.  157;  (3)  monkhood, 
A.D.  348;  (4)  Latin  Mass,  a.d.  394;  (5)  extreme  unction, 
A.D.  550;  (6)  invocation  of  Virgin  and  Saints,  a.d.  715;  (7) 
kissing  the  Pope's  toe,  a.d.  809  ;  (8)  canonization  of  Saints, 
A.D.  993;  (9)  baptizing  of  bells,  a.d.  iooo;  (id)  celibacy  of 
priests,  a.d.  1015;  (11)  indulgences,  a.d.  1119;  (12)  Papal 
dispensations,  a.d.  1200;  (13)  elevation  of  the  Host,  a.d.  1200; 
(14)  the  Inquisition,  a.d.  1204;  (15)  auricular  confession, 
A.D.  1215  ;  (16)  dogma  of  the  Immaculate  Conception, 
a.d.  1853  ;   (17)  infallibility  of  the  Pope,  a.d.  1870. 

The  Hindu,  and  the  Graeco-Roman  Priests,  were  the  pre- 
cursors of,  and  the  latter  were  the  great  examples  to,  the 
Christian  Churches.  Bishop  Westcott  remarks  (Cambridge 
Companion  to  the  Bible,  1893,  p.  21),  in  his  Essay  on  the 
Sacred  Books  of  pre-Christian  Religions,  that  "  Ritual  in  each 
case  has  finally  overpowered  the  stirrings  after  a  personal,  and 
spiritual,  fellowship  with  God,"  and  without  that  Religion  is 
a  mere  farce.  It  was  all  very  well  for  a  Roman  in  the 
Augustine  age  to  pour  out  a  libalion  to  the  gods  :  even  the  last 
words  of  Socrates,  "A  cock  to  the  god  .^sculapius,"  sounds 
sad  to  our  ears :  how  far  more  ennobling  were  the  two  dying 
sentences  of  Stephen,  commending  his  Spirit  to  his  Saviour, 
and  craving  pardon  for  his  murderers  !  we  seem  to  feel  sure, 
that  Socrates  had  this  feeling,  but  was  unable  to  express  it : 
he  had  not  learnt  the  terminology. 


(       63       ) 

What  rational  opinion  can  be  formed  of  the  decoration  of 
Churches  beyond  what,  is  necessary  for  the  convenient  assembly 
of  worshippers,  or  a  table  at  one  end  being  called  an  altar,  and 
decorated  with  flowers,  vessels,  crosses,  and  crucifixes  ?  When 
we  read  of  the  Pan  Athenaic  procession  at  Athens,  and  stand 
in  the  ruined  Temples  at  Pompeii,  we  cannot  but  feel,  how  very 
Pagan  are  the  so-called  imitations  of  more  advanced,  and  more 
intelligent,  ages:  the  very  words  "consecration  of  a  brick 
and  mortar  fabric"  and  "  sacrilege"  as  applied  to  metal  vessels 
being  stolen,  have  a  Pagan  smack  about  them.  The  Church 
consists  of  the  Souls  of  the  congregation,  brought  together  in 
a  decent  suitable  building  set  apart  for  the  purpose,  but  always 
liable  to  return  to  secular  uses.  In  India  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  does  not  consecrate  the  building,  but  the  altar,  which 
it  can  remove.  What  misery  and  loss  of  life  have  been  caused 
by  the  tendency  of  the  followers  of  one  Religious  conception, 
or  of  the  Sect  of  one,  to  appropriate  the  buildings  of  another 
Sect.  We  deem  it,  or  at  least  many  of  us,  an  insult  to 
Christianity,  that  so  many  Christian  Churches  have  been  turned 
into  Mahometan  IMosques,  such  as  Sta.  Sophia  at  Constanti- 
nople, and  the  great  Church  at  Damascus,  itself  once  a  Pagan 
Temple ;  but  how  many  places  of  Worship  have  Christians 
exultingly,  and  out  of  malice,  annexed  !  In  India  the 
Mahometans  annexed  Hindu  Temples,  and  in  times  of  reaction 
the  Hindu  annexed  Mahometan  Mosques,  and  fights  took 
place  about  bricks  and  mortar :  the  site  of  the  Temple  of 
Solomon  is  still  occupied  by  a  ^lahometan  Mosque.  Even  in 
London  we  have  the  sight  of  processions  of  members  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  filing  into  Westminster  Abbey  to  worship  at 
the  tomb  of  Edward  the  Confessor;  and  in  Edinburgh  the  still 
more  strange  sight  of  a  Presbyterian  congregation  occupying 
the  Cathedral  of  St.  Giles,  so  unsuitable  to  their  simple  form. 
Instances  of  such  appropriation  occur  all  over  the  Northern 
part  of  Europe. 

And  as  regards  Ritual,  I  have  visited  Troitska,  one  of  the 
most  sacred  shrines  of  the  Greek  Church,  near  jMoscow. 
Notwithstanding  my  considerable  experience  of  the  Ritualism  of 
that  Church,  I  was  at  a  loss  to  follow  the  meaning  of  all  the 
symbolism,  but  I  have  often  stood  in  a  Hindu  Temple  watching 
similar  Ritual,  and  I  felt  that  some  of  my  old  friends  the  Pujari 
Brahmins  of  Banaras  would  be  quite  at  home,  and  in  full 
sympathy,  with  the  bowings  and  genuflexions,  and  manipula- 
tions, and  the  Gospodi  Pomeloi  of  the  Russian  Papa.  There 
is  a  strong  family  likeness  in  all  manifestations  of  Human  folly, 
and  extravagant  action. 

In  1885  a  sermon  was  preached  by  the  lamented  Dr.  Hatch 
of  Oxford,  whose  Bampton-Lectures  let  in  so  much  light  into 


(       64       ) 

the  origin  of  Ritual.  One  sentiment  was  remarkable  :  "  All 
'•  scientific  Truths  had  been  denounced  by  Christians,  as 
"  Heresy,  and  the  consequence  was  that,  as  knowledge 
"  advanced,  those,  whose  eyes  were  opened,  regarded  the 
"  Religion,  as  presented  to  them,  as  a  Cave  of  Adullam,  in 
"  which  the  collective  weaknesses  of  mankind  had  taken 
"  refuge,  and  that  real  Christianity  had  passed  into  a  world  of 
"  shadows.  That  faith  in  Jesus,  which  had  conquered  the 
"  world  by  its  own  innate  Truth  and  greatness,  was  a  simple 
"  Creed,  and  that,  which  linked  Christians  together,  was  a 
"  simple  Brotherhood." 

The  consequence  of  the  tendency  to  ornament  places  of 
Worship  with  spoils  taken  from  other  countries,  and  other 
places  of  Worship,  renders  so-called  Sacrilege  a  common 
offence  :  the  plunder  of  sacred  vessels,  the  robbery  of  jewels 
and  treasures  from  Sacristies,  are  loudly  complained  of:  but 
why  are  they  there  ?  the  spoil  of  plundered  towns  was  dedicated 
to  a  Deity,  who  had  uttered  the  words,  "Thou  shalt  not  steal "  : 
men  and  women  were  murdered  in  the  name  of  Him,  who  had 
written,  "Thou  shalt  not  commit  murder":  the  lands  and 
houses  and  vineyards  of  others  were  coveted,  and  taken 
possession  of  by  violence  under  the  asserted  guidance  of  Him, 
who  had  written,  "  Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbour's  house, 
nor  anything  that  is  his."  Attila  and  Genghiz  Khan  could  not 
be  worse  than  were  the  Hebrews,  and  the  Christian  Kings 
of  the  Middle  Ages. 

With  regard  to  Penance,  a  strange  Idea  has  occupied  the 
minds  of  ancient  men,  that  physical  pain  purges  away  moral 
evil.  This  has  led  to  Asceticism  in  India,  whereby  a  power  was 
obtained  over  the  Deity,  who  was  driven  to  practise  unworthy 
tricks  to  break  the  power  of  the  Ascete.  Penance  is  one  of  the 
strange  errors  of  the  Romish  Church. 

If  Ritual  be  kept  within  its  legitimate  limits,  it  matters  not : 
it  is  then  but  a  desire  to  protect  the  Essence  of  Religion,  and 
to  keep  the  thoughts  from  wandering,  while  engaged  in 
Worship.  This  is  what  is  sometimes  called  a  warm  Service,  as 
opposed  to  the  cold,  haughty,  attitude  of  the  Mahometan,  who 
so  many  times  a  day  bandies  words  with  his  Creator,  like  a  Sentry 
reports  to  his  Commanding  Officer.  But  those,  the  externals  of 
whose  Worship  is  like  the  rind  of  the  fruit,  should  be  reminded, 
that  the  Ritual  of  the  Christian  is  but  a  copy  of  Jewish  and 
Pagan  Originals.  It  is  evident,  that  the  Ritual  of  Moses  owed 
much  to  the  Egyptian  and  Babylonian,  or  in  other  words  to  the 
common  germ  of  such  developments,  which  is  part  of  the  outfit 
of  the  Human  Race.  In  course  of  time  the  Christian  borrowed 
from  the  Jewish,  and  the  Roman,  and  Greek,  Paganism  around 
him.     No  sooner  did  Christianity  become  Religio  licita,  than 


(      65      ) 

the  same  tendencies,  which  had  displayed  themselves  in  the 
Pagans  of  South  Europe,  began  to  appear ;  the  notion  prevailed, 
that  in  order  to  captivate  the  multitude,  all  Worship  of  the 
Deity  needed  to  be  surrounded  with  pomp  and  outward  show. 
The  humble  Christian  Minister  assumed  the  dress  and  name 
of  Sacerdos,  and  wore  fine  clothes.  The  upper  room,  or  the 
humble  conventicle,  was  supplanted  by  the  Basilica,  which 
rivalled  the  grandest  of  heathen  temples ;  processions,  gold 
and  silver  ornaments,  incense,  lighted  tapers,  and  a  grand  Ritual, 
recalled  the  ceremonial  of  the  old  gods  of  Rome.  It  never 
occurred  to  that  superstitious  age,  or  to  the  present  enlightened 
one,  that  all  this  outward  glory,  however  suitable  to  the 
centuries  before  Anno  Domini,  and  the  Religious  conceptions 
of  that  Epoch,  were  totally  repugnant  to  the  new  and  spiritual 
conception.  The  early  Christians  in  their  humble  dwellings, 
and  places  of  Worship,  did  approach  the  Lord  in  Prayer,  living 
as  He  did  in  his  earthly  pilgrimage,  but  the  allurements  of 
the  flesh  now  obstruct,  and  render  difficult,  the  approach  to  Him 
in  humility,  Spirit,  and  Truth. 

Could  they  have  read  clearer  the  page  of  History,  and  under- 
stood the  march  of  Human  events,  they  might  have  acted 
differently.  The  Palestinian  Jew  in  the  century  preceding 
Anno  Domini,  had  fallen  to  the  lowest  level  of  empty  Ritual. 
The  destruction  of  the  Temple,  and  the  cessation  of  the  Mosaic 
form  of  Worship,  were  at  hand.  In  the  meantime  the  Jew  of 
the  Diaspora  was  supplying  the  leaven  of  progress  to  all  the 
Races  and  Nations,  with  whom  he  came  into  contact.  He  had 
no  Temple,  no  Priesthood,  no  Ritual,  but  he  had  a  high  Ideal, 
and  he  was  unconsciously  preparing  a  platform  in  every  city 
of  West  Asia,  North  Africa,  and  Europe,  on  which  the  new 
Religious  conception  could  rest :  the  Kingdom  of  Israel,  and 
the  old  Jerusalem,  were  ready  to  disappear;  the  shadow  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  and  the  new  Jerusalem,  fell  on  the  slide  of 
the  great  Lantern  of  the  Universe.  Moses  was  read  in  every 
Synagogue  every  Sabbath  :  a  few  years  later  Christ  was  to  be 
read  also,  for  it  may  roughly  be  said  that,  where  there  was 
a  Synagogue,  there  would  soon  be  a  Church :  Primitive  Christi- 
anity sprang  up  in  a  soil  prepared  by  two  or  three  centuries  of 
Hebrew  culture.  The  Jew  of  the  Diaspora,  deprived  of  means 
of  access  to  the  outward  centre  of  his  hereditary  worship, 
arrived  at  the  conviction,  that  his  call  was  to  serve  God  in 
a  pure  manner,  and  observe  the  principles  of  his  Religion,  since 
he  was  hopelessly  debarred  from  the  Ritual.  The  Christian 
Church  absorbed  too  much  Paganism  in  its  essence  to  keep 
clear  of  Ritual.  With  Ritual  came  dancing,  music,  ceremonies 
attending  the  initiation,  the  feast  of  love,  and  the  funeral,  noise 
made  by  bells,  tam-tams,  gongs.     I  have,  in  India,  heard  the 


(       66       ) 

followers  of  three  different  Religious  conceptions,  striving  who 
could  make  the  most  noise.  The  dancing  of  the  Corybantes 
has,  in  these  last  years,  been  renewed  by  the  Salvation-Army 
in  the  streets  of  London,  as  it  is  by  the  Dervishes  in  the  Mosques 
of  Constantinople.  On  the  paintings  on  the  walls  of  Egyptian 
tombs  of  vast  antiquity  we  find,  that  the  fools  of  that  epoch 
were  doing  just  the  same  thing  as  the  fools  of  this  epoch,  and 
as  David  did  before  the  Ark,  rousing  the  derision  of  at  least 
one  of  the  spectators. 

The  end  is  not  yet:  in  The  Times  of  1894,  I  read  how  "the 
"  anniversary  of  the  execution  of  the  so-called  Manchester- 
"  martyrs  was  celebrated  in  several  of  the  principal  towns  of 
"  Ireland.  There  were  processions,  speeches,  some  approach 
"  to  Religious  ceremonies,  and  much  decoration  of  Fenian 
"  graves."  This  recalls  the  processions  in  honour  of  the  martyrs 
of  K(^rbela,  Hosan,  and  Hosein,  in  Mahometan  countries,  and 
of  Tammuz,  in  Syria,  and  of  many  a  Saint  in  the  Church  of 
Rome,  notably  the  body  of  Xavier  at  Goa  in  West  India. 

The  counting  of  beads  is  a  form  of  Ritual,  which  the  Chris- 
tian Churches  share  with  the  Pagan.  The  Hindu  repeats  his 
"Ram  Ram,"  and  the  Roman  Catholic  his  "Ave  Maria,"  with 
equal  profit  to  his  Soul.  Every  Tibetan  has  his  Rosary 
of  108  beads,  that  he  may  keep  up  the  reckoning  of  his  good 
words,  which  to  him  supply  the  place  of  good  deeds ;  to  this 
day  they  place  efficacy  in  vain  repetitions. 

Singularly  enough  sometimes  the  followers  of  one  conception 
in  their  intense  ignorance  practise  the  Ritual-tricks  of  a  totally 
distinct  conception  ;  the  lower  class  Maratha  Hindu,  who  have 
themselves  rebelled  against  priestly  domination  very  recently, 
not  only  respect,  but  participate  in,  Mahometan  Religious  customs 
in  Poona.  For  instance,  the  majority  of  tazia  (paper  and  wood 
representations  of  the  tomb  of  the  two  grandsons  of  Mahomet) 
in  the  annual  festival  of  the  Mohurrum  are  made  by  the  Maratha. 
The  tomb  of  a  saint,  Shah  Dawal,  near  Poona,  is  worshipped 
by  the  Maratha,  who  take  goats,  etc.,  as  a  Sacrifice  to  the  saint 
every  week. 

7.  Priestcraft,  Witchcraft,  Exorcism. 

Certain  phenomena  have  been  the  bane  of  all  Religious 
conceptions,  whether  they  appear  in  the  degraded  form  of  the 
Shaman  in  Central  Asia,  or  the  Medicine-man  in  North 
America.  Islam  is  entirely  free,  at  least,  from  Priestcraft,  or 
the  lofty  type  of  the  Hindu  Brahman,  the  Hebrew  Priest,  or  the 
Roman  Catholic  Cardinal.  The  instinct  of  these  last  leads  them 
to  strive  to  keep  the  office  either  as  hereditary,  or  as  a  close 


(      67      ) 

corporation ;  to  strive  to  keep  all  knowledge,  secular  or 
Religious,  in  their  hands ;  to  keep  the  laity  in  subjection  by 
trickery,  by  cajolery,  by  intimidation,  by  threatenings  of 
future  punishment.  Their  best  and  their  worst  characteristics 
co-operated  to  work  out  their  purpose,  and  indeed  they  had  to 
secure  the  means  of  living  in  some  way,  especially  after  the 
cessation  of  animal  sacrifices  diminished  the  supply  of  food 
ready  to  be  consumed  by  themselves  and  their  families. 

Sacerdotal  pretensions  have  been,  and  continue  to  be,  one 
of  the  greatest  social  curses,  that  the  world  ever  knew.  Far 
from  encouraging  Morality,  or  developing  the  Religious  Idea, 
it  has  generally  the  contrary  effect ;  and  the  enforcement  of 
a  spiritual  tyranny,  such  as  Priests  delight  to  exert,  has  a 
decidedly  immoral  influence,  destroying  the  independence  of 
the  individual  Soul  before  the  Deity. 

The  exercise,  or  pretence  to  exercise,  IMagical  Arts  ;  the 
conceptions  of  Charms  against  the  Evil  Eye,  Drawing  of  Lots, 
Witchcraft,  Incantation,  are  found  everywhere.  Sometimes 
these  powers  are  claimed  by  the  regular  Priesthood  ;  sometimes 
by  a  rival  set  of  impostors,  who  are  denounced  by  the  Priests,  as 
the  Priests  are  by  them. 

The  Hebrew  Chroniclers  notice  an  Ephod,  which  was 
consulted  by  the  Priests,  on  the  occasion  of  there  being  a 
doubt  as  to  a  policy  to  be  assumed  ;  in  fact,  Abiathar,  when 
Nob  was  destroyed,  went  off  with  a  view  of  helping  David 
(I  Samuel,  xxx,  7).  On  the  other  hand.  Magical  Arts,  consulting 
of  familiar  spirits,  were  forbidden.  Saul  asked  counsel  of  a 
familiar  spirit,  and  the  form  of  Samuel  appeared  to  him, 
and  he  inquired  not  of  the  Lord,  therefore  he  slew  him 
(I  Chronicles,  x,  14). 

Bishop  John  Selwyn  writes  :  "  In  many  islands  no  one  of 
"  importance  is  deemed  to  die  a  natural  death  ;  a  cause  of  his 
"  illness  must  be  sought,  and  that  is  Witchcraft ;  recourse  is 
"  had  to  Divination  in  some  form  or  another.  The  innocent 
"  inhabitant  of  some  neighbouring  village  is  pitched  upon,  as 
"  the  offender,  and  is  pursued  with  unrelenting  hate."  (Ramsden 
Sermon,  May  21,  1893.) 

We  find  notice  of  the  father  of  Khama,  who  was  not  only 
the  Chief,  but  the  Sorcerer  of  his  tribe,  and  in  the  last 
capacity  he  had  to  study  his  Divination,  and  repeat  his 
Incantations,  as  often  as  Ma-Tabele  inroads  threatened. 

We  read  in  the  Book  of  Numbers,  how  Balaam  was  sent  for 
by  the  king  of  the  tribe  to  launch  curses  on  the  Hebrews,  as  they 
approached  his  country.  In  fact,  the  practice  in  ancient  time 
was  universal. 

With  regard  to  Priesthoods,  there  is  none  in  China.  The 
official  class  do  what  is   required,   and   the   Emperor  himself 


(       68       ) 

ofiers  the  Solstitial  Service,  not  as  Priest,  but  as  King.  Some 
Religious  conceptions  have  tried  to  exist  without  a  clergy, 
a  class  set  apart  for  teaching,  ministering,  performing  social 
rites  such  as  matrimony,  funerals,  initiations,  but  it  has  been 
found,  that  a  Ministry  of  some  kind  is  as  necessary  to  a  Re- 
ligious Worship,  as  a  Schoolmaster  to  a  School,  or  a  Gardener 
to  a  Garden. 

The  names  of  the  forms  of  deception  may  be  extended  so  as 
to  include  Amulets,  Sortilages,  Omens,  Ghosts,  Philtres,  hidden 
forms  of  words  such  as  Kabala,  and  Palmistry,  which  is  still 
practised  in  England,  and  is  punishable  as  an  attempt  to  de- 
ceive Her  Majesty's  subjects.  Some  of  these  deceptions  rose 
even  to  the  rank  of  Sciences,  such  as  Astrology,  Divination,  in 
times  past. 

8.  Ceremonial  Cleanness,  or  Uncleanness. 

The  distinction  of  clean  and  unclean  can  scarcely  be  defined, 
or  understood,  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  but  it  was  the 
characteristic  of  all  priesthoods  over  the  ancient  world,  and 
rested  in  its  origin  on  gross  superstitions,  the  reason  of  which 
is  forgotten,  though  the  practice  remains.  Religion  thus 
hardens  down  into  ceremonial :  some  animals  may  be  eaten, 
some  may  not  ;  dead  bodies,  even  of  loved  ones,  were  not  to 
be  touched  ;  Caste  grew  from  this  in  India,  restricting 
matrimony,  and  commensality.  A  very  dirty  man  may  be 
deemed  ceremonially  clean,  while  a  very  clean  man  may  be 
voted  ceremonially  unclean.  Drinking  water  in  vessels, 
touching  articles,  comes  under  that  head :  I  remember  the 
Hindu  driver  of  a  Post-Ofiice-cart  refusing  to  blow  a  bugle, 
which  had  been  blown  by  a  Mahometan.  On  one  occasion 
there  was  a  trouble  in  the  city  of  Banaras,  and  I  arrested  some 
half  a  hundred,  tied  them  all  together  with  a  rope,  and  sent 
them  to  the  gaol  :  it  was  hot  weather,  but  a  Brahman  refused 
to  drink  water,  because  there  was  a  Christian  prisoner  tied  by 
the  same  rope,  about  ten  men  off  him  :  he  was  left  to  his 
thirst :  the  Greeks  had  it  strongly  e'/co?  ekci^  oaTi's  uXnpo?.  The 
division  of  the  animal  world  into  clean  and  unclean  for  reasons 
quite  unintelligible,  such  as  cloven  feet,  or  chewing  the  cud, 
must  be  a  survival  of  Totemism  :  it  prevailed  among  the 
Babylonians  and  Assyrians  as  well  as  among  the  Hebrews.  All 
Religions  on  some  pretence  or  another  forbid  some  article  of 
food  :  the  Hebrews  and  Mahometans,  for  no  obvious  reason, 
forbid  the  eating  of  swine's  flesh  ;  the  Hindu  forbad  the  eating 
of  cow's  flesh,  and  eggs  ;  the  Sikhs  forbad  tobacco :  and  there 
is  generally  a  corresponding  indulgence  in  something  else  ;  for 


(       69       ) 

instance,  tobacco  being  forbidden,  the  Sikhs  take  to  opium. 
One  of  the  main  objections  to  the  crusade  against  opium  in 
India  is,  that  the  people  deprived  of  their  drug  will  take  to 
alcoholics  of  some  sort,  imported  from  Europe. 

9.  Fasting,  Celibacy,  Asceticism,  Eremitism. 

Under  this  head  we  find  the  same  features  everywhere,  as 
ridiculous,  as  useless  for  all  spiritual  advancement,  engendering 
Pharisaic  pride,  and  laying  aside  the  very  objects  of  Human 
existence:  the  more  degraded  the  Religious  conception,  the 
more  we  hear  of  abstaining  from  certain  meats,  or  all  meats, 
forbidding  matrimony,  abandoning  the  ways  of  ordinary  life, 
and  retirmg  as  hermits  into  deserts  or  forests  to  spend  life 
in  absolute  uselessness,  or  to  cluster  in  Monasteries  in  obedience 
to  self-imposed  vows,  pretending  to  higher  sanctity,  neglecting 
the  ordinary  duties  of  men  and  women.  There  must  be  a 
fascination  for  such  things  in  certain  minds  :  we  find  instances 
of  it  among  the  Essenes,  the  hermits  of  Upper  Egypt,  the  Brah- 
manical  Brahmacharya,  and  Sanyasi,  and  Yogi,  the  Buddhist, 
the  Jew,  the  Greek,  Romish  and  Armenian,  Coptic,  and 
Syriac,  Monasteries.  Such  practices  might  have  been  tolerable, 
and  useful,  in  times  of  confusion,  and  unrule :  they  are  in- 
tolerable now.  The  Mahometans  keep  the  Ramzan  fast  with 
great  regularity,  and  really  put  up  with  a  great  deal  of  suffering  ; 
the  Roman  Catholics  have  their  jour  maigre,  but,  as  plenty 
of  fish  and  eggs  is  allowed,  it  is  a  mere  name.  We  hear  of 
English  Bishops  dispensing  by  circular  letters  with  fasts  in 
Lent,  which  seems  in  modern  days  to  be  taking  unnecessary 
trouble.  Fasting  is  a  mere  survival :  it  may  be  very  well  for  the 
glutton,  or  one  who  fares  sumptuously,  but  for  the  spare  liver, 
and  advocate  of  temperance,  it  ranks  among  the  works  of  supere- 
rogation ;  to  the  labouring  man  it  would  mean  inability  to  work  : 
the  wheels  of  the  engine  will  not  revolve,  the  fire  in  the  hearth 
will  go  out,  if  there  be  no  supply  of  fuel ;  the  railway-engine, 
without  supply  of  water,  will  cease  to  work :  to  go  without  food 
with  a  view  of  supplying  the  pressing  need  of  a  poorer  brother 
is  the  real  fast. 

An  Oxford  correspondent  of  The  Times  "  carries  back  the 
"  practice  of  fasting-communion  to  the  time  of  St.  Basil 
-  (A.D.   380). 

"  But  whence  was  a  custom,  apparently  so  alien  to  the  circum- 
"  stances  of  the  original  institution,  imported  into  the  Christian 
"  Church  }  Probably,  like  so  many  other  novelties  of  Ritual  and 
"  doctrine,  introduced  into  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  third, 
"  fourth,  and  fifth  centuries,  from  a  Pagan  source. 


(      70      ) 

"  The  initiated  in  the  Greek  mysteries  at  Eleusis,  before  they 
"  were  allowed  to  drink  of  the  mystic  kukswi'  and  eat  of  the 
"  sacred  cakes,  were  required  to  fast  for  a  day  (Hatch's  Hibbert- 
"  Lectures,  1888,  p.  298). 

"  It  was  not  till  the  conquered  Paganism  had  begun  to  take 
"  such  dire  revenge  by  imposing  much  of  its  own  philosophy 
"  and  its  own  ritual  on  the  victorious  Church,  that  the  necessity 
**  of  fasting-communion  was  taught  by  the  Fathers. 

"  Were  it  not  for  the  difficulty  in  these  days  of  delicate 
"  organizations  and  diminishing  endurance,  of  combining  this 
"  practice,  probably  Pagan  in  its  origin,  with  a  late  celebration 
"  of  the  Eucharist,  it  is  plain,  from  the  correspondence  in  public 
"  newspapers,  that  we  should  hear  of  no  objections  to  evening 
"  communions." 

We  hear  of  a  Mahometan  in  Egypt  in  1894  venturing  to 
preach  against  Fasting  in  the  Ramzan,  as  not  being  prescribed 
by  the  Koran :  it  led  to  a  fanatical  outburst :  the  man  was  taken 
to  the  Kazi,  and  received  thirty  strokes  of  the  kurbash  :  this 
seems  an  act  of  great  intolerance :  the  real  offence  of  the  man 
was  his  attempting  to  wound  the  feelings  of  others  by  his 
conduct  and  words  ;  this  no  doubt  was  a  punishable  offence  : 
at  any  rate,  Fasting  should  be  voluntary.  The  Jew  still  practises 
Fasting. 

"  Tuesday  evening  marked  the  beginning  of  the  great  Re- 
"  ligious  day  of  the  year  in  the  Jewish  Calendar,  the  Day  of 
"  Atonement,  and  several  thousands  of  English,  German,  Polish, 
"  and  Russian,  Jews  attended  at  the  Great  Assembly  Hall,  Mile 
"  End  Road,  for  its  celebration.  The  day  began  at  sunset,  and 
"  the  first  service  began  at  half-past  five.  The  Fast  is  observed 
"  from  dusk  to  dusk,  and  no  adult  Jew  or  Jewess  is  allowed  to 
"  take  any  food  or  drink  whatever  during  that  period  of  time." 

Penance  to  expiate  sins  committed  comes  under  this 
category  :  putting  on  sackcloth  and  a  sad  face.  A  remarkable 
case  is  mentioned  in  Jonah,  iii,  5  :  The  people  of  Nineveh, 
Assyrians,  seem  to  have  known  all  about  the  way  of  conciliating 
an  offended  Deity.  The  king  sat  in  ashes,  and  even  the  cattle, 
poor  creatures !  were  covered  with  sackcloth,  and  put  upon 
reduced  diet.  With  the  Hindu  we  read  that  the  penance  of 
the  body  was  to  be  chaste,  of  the  mouth  to  speak  always  truth 
and  kindness,  of  the  thoughts  to  control  Self,  purify  the  Soul, 
to  be  silent,  and  disposed  to  benevolence. 

Buddha  was  seven  years  practising  extreme  asceticism  ;  he 
then  reflected,  that  the  extreme  mortification  of  the  body  did  not 
bring  him  into  the  path  of  Perfect  Knowledge.  It  struck  him, 
that  a  guitar  too  lightly  strained  gave  a  harsh  sound,  one  not 
strained  enough  gave  no  resonance,  while  a  string  moderately 
strained    gave    forth    sweet    sounds  ;      so    he    determined    to 


(      71      ) 

practise  moderate  asceticism  :  he  sate  in  contemplation  under 
a  tree,  and  ate  food  collected  as  alms  sufficient  to  support 
life:  thus  he  arrived  at  True  Knowledge,  subdumg  of  the 
Passions,  Precepts  of  the  eight-fold  Noble  Path  leading  to 
the  supreme  God. 

10.  Feasting,  Day  of  Rest. 

Here  all  the  old  world,  and  great  part  of  the  modern  world, 
are  on  common  ground,  and  wish  to  keep  a  day  of  Rest,  or 
Feasts,  sometimes  guided  in  their  dates  by  the  Revolution  of 
the  Sun,  sometimes  of  the  Moon.  Among  the  Semites  the 
day  of  Rest,  called  "  Sabbath,"  can  be  traced  through  the 
Phenicians  to  the  Akkadians  (Tiele,  p.  84) ;  with  the  Jews  it 
was  deemed  to  be  primeval,  and  the  last  day  of  the  week, 
Saturday;  with  the  Christians  the  first  day  of  the  week,  Sunday; 
and  with  the  Mahometans  the  last  day  but  one  of  the  week, 
Friday. 

We  read  in  Greek  and  Latin  Poets  of  the  Feasts,  which  the 
Seasons  brought  round,  connected  with  their  Deities.  In  India 
there  are  special  periods,  extending  over  days  and  weeks.  Paul 
(Gal.  iv,  17)  alludes  to  the  observance  by  the  Jews  and  neo- 
Christians  of  days,  months,  and  years  ;  the  Roman  Catholic 
Calendar  is  made  up  of  days  set  apart,  some  to  feasting,  some 
to  fasting.  There  is  a  great  and  universal  superstition  as 
regards  times,  places,  persons,  and  seasons,  which  the  Human 
Race  will  never  outlive,  and  which  they  transfer  from  one 
Religion  to  another.  Some  days  are  lucky,  some  unlucky  :  the 
Harvest  Home  with  its  decorations  is  but  a  remnant  of 
Paganism  ;  the  gifts  of  the  Earth  have  a  beauty  about  them, 
but,  when  a  pig's  head  is  ofi"ered  at  the  Communion-Table, 
the  boundary  seems  to  be  passed,  and  yet  herds  of  swine  are 
as  much  means  of  honest  livelihood,  and  support  of  families, 
as  the  more  picturesque  barn  of  corn,  and  vineyard. 

11.  Esoteric,  or  Exoteric. 

I  quote  the  words  of  a  learned  writer  :  "  Last  of  the  higher 
"  polytheisms,  we  may  name  that  of  Greece.  Here,  as 
"  elsewhere,  we  have  an  esoteric  as  well  as  an  exoteric  form  of 
"  Religion,  the  former  being  ultimately  embodied  in  what  are 
"  known  as  the  '  mysteries.'  These,  whatever  they  may  at 
"  times  have  degenerated  into,  were,  in  their  first  intention, 
"  attempts  to  lead  the  Soul  higher,  '  the  highest  effort  of 
"  Paganism  to  realize  sacramental  communion  with  Deity.' 
"  Thus,   while   many  of  the  rites  of   the   public    Religion   in 


(      72      ) 

"  Greece  were  gross  and  degrading,  this  higher  teaching  rose 
"  to  a  far  nobler  level." 

We  seem  to  see  the  first  germ  of  this  two-fold  exhibition  of 
the  same  conception  in  Mark,  iv,  1 1,  34  :  "  Unto  you  it  is  given 
to  know  the  mystery  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  but  unto  them 
that  are  without,  all  these  things  are  done  in  parables " ; 
"  But  without  a  parable  spake  He  not  unto  them ;  and  when 
they  were  alone.  He  expounded  all  things  to  His  disciples." 

The  Church  of  Rome  in  the  dark  ages  made  full  use  of  this 
principle :  "  It  concentrated  Church-Authority  and  power  in 
"  the  hands  of  the  Clergy:  but  there  was  something  worse  and 
"  more  deadly:  it  developed  the  Idea,  that  the  Religion  of  the 
*'  understanding,  and  of  the  head,  was  the  prerogative  of  the 
"  few,  that  a  Ritual  of  devotion,  born  of  ignorance,  was  the  duty 
"  incumbent  on  the  many.  Such  a  Church  was  not  a  Christian 
"  Church,  but  it  ought  to  have  some  Christians  in  it."  (The 
Rev.  Thomas  Smith:  Modern  Missions,  p.  238.) 

But  even  in  our  own  Protestant  Churches,  what  do  the  School- 
children understand  of  the  Catechism,  to  which  they  reply,  and 
the  prayers  which  they  repeat  ?  Let  it  pass :  their  childhood 
excuses  them  :  they  are  being  trained.  What  do  the  fathers 
and  mothers  of  families,  and  the  hard-working  adults,  know  of 
the  mysteries  of  Christianity  ?  They  are  simple,  if  received  into 
a  simple  heart,  but  when  a  rind  of  Human  cares,  vices,  and 
desires,  is  formed  round  that  heart,  how  can  they  understand  ? 
What  are  the  feelings  of  a  rustic  congregation  looking  at  the 
new  painted  window  in  memory  of  the  Squire's  wife  ?  can  they 
recognise  in  the  bright  blue,  or  red,  or  yellow,  figures  in  the 
glass  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  the  carpenter  of  Nazareth,  who 
walked  through  Galilee  as  a  humble  peasant  with  no  home, 
and  nothing  of  the  world's  greatness  ?  What  authority  have 
we  to  suppose,  that  there  will  be  crowns  of  gold,  or  sceptres,  or 
splendid  robes  in  the  next  world,  though  the  Author  of  the 
Revelation  seems  to  hint  at  it  ? 

Is  there  not,  therefore,  an  esoteric  and  exoteric  Doctrine  to 
this  day  ?  a  hazy  conception  on  the  part  of  the  ignorant  and 
uncultured  ?  I  quote  the  words  of  a  competent  student,  if  not 
master,  of  this  subject : 

"  To  expect  that  Religion  can  ever  be  placed  beyond  the 
"  reach  of  scientific  treatment,  or  of  honest  criticism,  shows  an 
"  utter  misapprehension  of  the  signs  of  the  times,  and  the 
"  nature  of  the  conception  :  it  would  after  all  be  no  more  than 
"  setting  up  the  private  judgment  of  some  against  the  private 
"judgment  of  others:  if  the  unalienable  rights  of  private 
"  judgment  of  all  were  recognised,  the  character  of  Religious 
"  Controversy  would  be  changed.  Restriction  provokes  resent- 
"  ment,  and  embitters  all  discussions. 


(      73      ) 

"  Religious  intolerance  is  in  some  respects  worse  now  than 
formerly:  the  Indians  recognised,  that  the  Religion  of  the 
young  can  never  be  quite  the  same  as  the  Religion  of  the  old,  as 
diversity  of  class,  tastes,  education,  culture,  occupation,  and 
training,  must  produce  divergence  in  Religious  thought.  The 
ignoring  of  this  simple  fact  leads  to  hypocrisy  on  the  one 
side,  and  dogmatism  on  the  other. 

"  I  know  how  strong  a  feeling  there  is  against  anything  like 
a  Religion  for  the  fav  different  from  the  Religion  for  the 
many.  An  esoteric  Religion  seems  to  be  one,  that  cannot 
show  itself,  that  is  afraid  of  the  light,  that  is,  in  fact,  dis- 
honest :  but  far  from  being  dishonest  the  distinction  between 
a  higher  and  lower  form  of  Religion  is  actually  the  only 
honest  recognition  of  the  realities  of  life.  To  a  philosophic 
man  Religion  is  a  Spiritual  Love  of  God,  and  the  joy  of  his 
full  consciousness  of  the  Spirit  of  God  within  him  :  but  what 
meaning  can  such  words  convey  to  Millions  of  Human 
beings  ?  They  nevertheless  want  a  Religion,  a  positive 
authoritative,  revealed  Religion,  to  teach  them,  that  there  is 
a  God,  and  that  His  commands  must  be  obeyed  without 
questioning." 


(      74      ) 


CAP.  III.     MANIFESTATION  OF  SUCH  A  POWER. 


1.  Miracles. 

2.  Prophecies,  Auguries,  Ordeals. 

3.  National  Sins  and  Punishments,  Anger  and  Hostility  of  the 

Deity. 

4.  Signs  from  Heaven. 

5.  Conception  of  Fate,  Nemesis,  'Epwuv?. 

I.  Miracles. 

In  every  country  in  the  world  down  to  the  end  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century  there  has  been  a  fond  belief  in  Miracles.  It 
is  so  notorious,  that  no  words  are  required.  I  have  visited  the 
Romish  Shrines  of  Lourdes,  Zaragossa,  Treves,  Loretto,  Rome, 
Turin,  Monte  Serrato,  near  Barcelona,  Einsiedeln,  in  Switzer- 
land, and  have  no  doubt,  that  it  is  believed,  that  the  Mother 
of  Christ  can  work  Miracles,  and  does  so  :  it  is  significant, 
that  in  Northern  Europe,  where  the  population  is  of  a  colder 
temperament,  and  of  relatively  higher  culture,  no  such  mani- 
festations are  notified  ;  of  course,  in  the  elder  days  before  the 
great  Anno  Domini  they  were  the  common  stock  of  every 
Religious  conception,  The  belief  was  very  strong  among  the 
Hebrews  ;  no  instance  of  a  Miracle  performed  by  a  Gentile 
occurs  in  the  New  Testament,  and  the  belief  in  them,  only  faint 
in  the  Greek  and  Roman  Church,  is  actually  non-existent  in 
the  Protestant  Churches ;  the  unhappy  Asiatic  and  African 
Churches,  which  suffered  so  much  under  the  Mahometans  for 
so  many  years,  were  never  saved,  or  comforted,  by  miraculous 
interference,  though  such  help  would  have  been  at  that  time 
most  acceptable  and  opportune.  Moreover,  the  Romish  Church, 
notwithstanding  that  it  pretends  to  have  such  extraordinary 
powers  in  reserve,  never  fails  to  lean  on  the  Arm  of  the  Flesh 
of  an  Earthly  Power.  As  a  fact,  the  Saints  never  do  supply 
material  help  in  the  Mission-Field  :  a  superstitious  population  of 
half-an-half  Christians  is  required  to  start  a  Miracle-performing 
shrine ;    not   one   exists   in   the   British   Dominions.      Neither 


(      75      ) 

Buddhist,  Confucianist,  nor  Zoroastrian,  make  any  pretence  to 
miraculous  power,  and  no  instance  of  a  Brahmanical  Miracle 
in  India  has  occurred  in  the  memory  of  man,  or  at  least  in  my 
experience ;  the  ordinary  stock-forms,  of  raising  from  the  dead, 
healing  the  sick,  providing  food,  helping  believers  to  drive  off 
hostile  invaders,  are  totally  unknown.  When  an  event  has 
happened  a  very  long  time  ago,  a  very  long  way  off,  the  im- 
portant point  for  the  Philosophic  Historian  is  to  find  out, 
whether  it  ever  happened  at  all,  or  whether  it  was  believed 
to  have  happened  by  any,  who  had  evidence  to  the  fact,  and 
a  faculty  of  recording  it.  We  must  recollect,  that  a  great  many 
Miracles  are  reported  to  have  taken  place  with  a  view  of  injuring 
other  people  :  a  Court  of  Law  would  soon  dispose  of  such  cases. 
Whatever  fanatics  may  say,  a  Miracle  could  not  co-exist  with 
a  Public  Press. 

Mahomet,  to  his  credit,  never  pretended  to  possess  the  power ; 
he  considered  the  Koran  to  be  a  Miracle,  and  as  a  literary  work 
it  is  of  the  highest  merit :  we  cannot  undertake  to  say  by  what 
process  JNIahomet  composed  it,  or  received  it  when  composed  ; 
we  can  only  deal  with  it  as  we  find  it  in  Manuscript.  Gautama 
Buddha  never  claimed  the  power. 

We  come  face  to  face  with  Miracles  in  all  the  Sacred  Books 
of  the  East :  they  were  believed  by  honest,  decent  men  of  their 
time,  and  were  not  put  into  circulation  from  corrupt  motives. 
We  try  to  explain  them  by  mistake  of  the  copyist,  or  some 
philological  interpretation,  or  by  allegory,  or  by  a  dense  mis- 
understanding of  actual  facts ;  but  it  is  all  in  vain.  I  must 
painfully  admit,  that  this  idiosyncrasy  belongs  to  all  early  Re- 
ligious conceptions,  and  venture  to  assert  that,  unless  atheists, 
cynics,  agnostics,  and  a  fearless  public  opinion  and  public  Press, 
existed,  they  would  come  into  existence  again.  It  would  be 
urged  by  the  Missionary,  (i)  that  a  great  mass  of  mankind  has 
to  be  converted  ;  (2)  that  judicious  Miracles  would  greatly  assist 
the  process;  (3)  that  God  loves  mankind  as  much  now  as  ever, 
and  does  not  wish  any  to  perish  ;  (4)  that  God's  power  is  not 
limited  ;  (5)  that  fervent  Prayer,  and  our  Saviour's  Promises,  can 
do  much.  Let  us  have  evidence  enough  to  satisfy  a  Common 
Jury. 

The  Birth  of  Buddha  is  surrounded  with  Miracles,  600  B.C.  : 
all  Nature  was  moved,  the  trees  bowed  down  to  him  ;  as  a  new- 
born child  he  behaved  in  a  manner  totally  unusual. 

Stones  bearing  the  impress  of  man's  feet  are  shown  at  Ajodya 
(Awadh)  in  India,  at  Hasan-Abdal,  and  on  the  Mount  of 
Olives.  Rocks  struck  have  given  place  to  fountains  at  Hasan- 
Abdal.  Heavenly  Leaders  are  reported  to  have  suddenly 
appeared  in  battle  to  help  a  particular  cause.  Pestilences  have 
been  sent  to  destroy  the  armies  of  enemies.      All  this  is  the 


(      76      ) 

common  stock  of  ignorant  National   Legends.     Such  kind  of 
things  are  never  reported  now. 

It  has  been  severely  remarked,  that  Miracles  have  been  the 
bane  of  all  forms  of  Religious  conceptions;  if  once  admitted  for 
a  season,  their  possibility  is  calculated  upon,  and  the  vulgar 
mind  expects  them  to  continue.  The  Church  of  Rome  is 
always  logical:  here  is  a  notice  under  date  September,  1890: 
"  The  feast  of  the  Nativity  of  the  Virgin  was  celebrated  to  day 
"  by  the  issue  of  four  decrees,  declaring  that  due  examination 
"  has  confirmed  the  virtues  of  four  deceased  monks,  and 
"  established  the  authenticity  of  Miracles,  attributed  to  those 
"  personages :  they  are  accordingly  beatified."  And  so  on  to 
the  end  of  time. 

There  is  no  monopoly  with  Christians :  in  their  ignorance, 
they  think  that  they  only  are  thaumaturges,  but  "  in  the 
"  sixteenth  century  war  was  still  waged  on  equal  terms  with 
".  the  Mahometans.  Both  believed,  that  they  were  fighting  for 
"  the  cause  of  God ;  both  invoked  His  assistance.  The 
"  Turkish  Admiral  managed  to  /«//  /he  wind,  which  favoured 
*'  the  Christian  sails.  Cardinal  Ximenes,  at  the  capture  of 
"  Oran,  managed  by  his  prayers  to  s/ay  the  course  of  the  Sun, 
"  until  the  Soldiers  of  the  Cross  were  avenged  of  their  Moorish 
"  enemies.  Houris  were  lent  out  of  Heaven  waving  green 
"  kerchiefs  to  lure  the  Ghazi  to  his  martyrdom.  St.  James  on 
"  his  white  horse  was  seen  in  mid-air  by  pious  eyes,  leading 
"  the  charge  of  the  Champions  of  the  Cross." 

The  Khalifa  Abdullah,  successor  of  the  Madhi  at  Khartum, 
promised  his  troops  the  divine  help  of  the  beatified  Mahdi, 
and  a  certain  victory.  This  is  just  what  the  Papist  Missionaries 
in  Africa  do  to  this  day.  A  French  Missionary  writes  to 
the  Missions  Catholiques  from  U-Ganda,  that  his  brother 
]\Iissionaries,  who  have  died,  have  helped  him  by  going  among 
the  people.  Now  the  Madhi,  the  Khalifa,  and  the  Papist 
Priests,  were  all  holy,  good  men,  constant  in  prayer,  and  ready 
to  sacrifice  their  lives  in  their  cause,  yet  they  lent  themselves 
to  a  lie.  In  the  hands  of  dead  Wahabi  have  been  found 
sealed  Arabic  papers,  promising  them  a  happy  Paradise,  with 
a  Pearl  for  a  dwelling,  and  Houris  to  attend  on  them,  if  they 
fell  fighting  the  battle  of  Islam. 

What  shall  be  said  of  the  Book  of  Tobit  ?  We  read  of  an 
evil  Spirit,  whose  name  is  recognised  in  Zoroastrian  legends, 
who  repeatedly  killed  the  bridegroom  of  a  girl  on  the  wedding 
night,  and  by  the  miraculous  interference  of  the  Archangel 
Raphael,  and  the  smell  of  a  burning  fish,  fled  away  to  the  River 
Euphrates.  The  ^aeid  of  Virgil  is  full  of  Miracles,  and  inter- 
ference of  the  Deity,  spoken  of  historically,  and  to  support 
the  argument  of  his  Poem,  not  from  any  desire  of  lucre  and 


(      77      ) 

power :  it  is  a  fair  measure  of  the  intellectual  status  of  the 
educated  classes  at  a  period  just  anterior  to  the  great  Anno 
Domini.  The  monstrous  miraculous  vision,  which  Constantine 
is  supposed  to  have  seen  in  the  Heavens,  marks  the  degradation 
of  thought  three  hundred  years  later:  this,  no  doubt,  is  so  entire 
a  fabrication,  that  Cardinal  Newman,  who  swallowed  so  much, 
could  not  accept  it.  In  the  Middle  Ages  it  became  the  fashion 
to  give  a  material  character  to  mere  visions  and  dreams  of  holy 
men;  and  a  Miracle  is  reported,  where  nothing  had  occurred. 
The  Miracles  at  shrines  are  monstrous.  At  Zaragossa  I  found 
that  one  man,  who  had  his  leg  cut  off  by  a  scythe,  through  the 
intercession  of  the  Madonna  of  the  Pilar  had  it  fastened  on 
again,  leaving  only  a  red  line  as  the  mark  of  the  adhesion. 

Mr.  Huxley  remarks  (Essays  on  Controverted  Questions, 
1892)  "that  no  one  is  entitled  to  say  a  priori  that: 

"  (i)  A  miraculous  event  is  impossible, 

"  (2)  Prayer  for  some  ordinary  change  in  the  ordinary  course 
of  Nature  cannot  possibly  avail, 

"  because  such  a  supposition  is  obviously  contradicted  by 
"  analogies  furnished  by  every  -  day  experience.  But  the 
"  arguments  cL  posteriori  against  (i)  Miracles,  (2)  efficacy  of 
"  Prayer,  are  conclusive :  the  lack  of  evidence  is  fatal.  The 
"  effect  of  Prayer,  however,  within  the  supplicator's  mind  is  a 
"  very  different  question.  Scientific  Faith  takes  us  no  further 
"  than  the  Prayer,  which  Ajax  offered,  but  that  petition  is 
"  continually  granted." 

Miraculous  stories  drift  from  country  to  country.  A  spider 
spins  his  web  over  the  mouth  of  the  cave  in  which  Mahomet 
was  concealed :  the  thing  is  not  impossible  for  the  spider  to  do, 
but  the  impulse  or  motive  of  the  spider  is  not  proved.  The 
same  story  is  told  in  the  life  of  Felix  of  Nola,  with  the  moral : 
where  Christ  is  with  us,  a  spider's  web  becomes  a  wall  to  us ; 
where  Christ  is  not,  a  wall  is  a  spider's  web. 

Miracles  are  asserted  to  have  been  performed  of  a  malevolent 
character:  in  the  Catholic  Missions,  Jan.,  1892,  an  English 
paper,  it  is  clearly  stated,  that  many  of  those,  who  opposed  the 
Romish  Missionaries,  died  soon  afterwards  :  the  inference  is 
obvious  :  to  make  such  an  assertion  marks  an  unchristian 
heart.  Miracles  are  reported  in  connection  with  Apollonius  of 
Tyana,  who  died  about  97  A.D.,  and  was  not  a  Christian. 

A  thoughtful  writer  remarks,  that  "  Miracles  form  part  of  the 
"  furniture  of  all  Religions  in  a  particular  stage  of  develop- 
"  ment  :  given  a  certain  habit  of  thought,  a  certain  crisis  of 
"  spiritual  urgency,  a  Miracle  is  sure  to  make  its  appearance,  in 
"  the  same  way  as  hysterical  excitement  accompanies  fanati- 
'.'  cism,  whether  Cybelic,  or  Bacchic.     It  is  much  more  a  form 


(      78      ) 

"  of  popular  belief  than  of  conscious  importance  ;  it  is  the 
"  people's  way  of  acknowledging  the  presence  of  God,  while 
"  the  devotee  of  Science  recognises  Him  in  inexorable  Law, 
"  and  unbroken  Order."     (Hibbert-Lectures,  1883,  p.  365.) 

It  is  asserted  in  a  general  way,  that  the  Miraculous  Power 
is  dead,  and  that  Prophecy  is  silent :  we  will  not  argue  whether 
these  two  mysterious  Agencies  are  more  dead  and  silent  now 
than  they  were  in  ages  that  are  past,  and  a  stage  of  culture,  or 
rather  non-culture,  that  can  hardly  be  realized.  The  Jewish 
type  of  the  Phenomenon  exists  no  more.  But  we  live  in  a 
period  of  real  world-Miracles,  for  God  still  displays  His  power 
by  His  acts,  and  in  a  period  of  world-Prophecy,  for  God  still 
speaks  to  our  consciences,  and  in  our  little  span  of  life  we  can 
see  traces  of  His  insurpassable  Wisdom.  How  little  the 
Hebrew  knew  of  His  Miraculous  Power  in  ordering  the  affairs 
of  the  Human  Race,  of  His  Wisdom  in  planning  and  maintain- 
ing the  great  Kosmos,  of  His  Love  to  the  Bodies  and  Souls  of 
His  poor  children,  compared  to  what  we  know  now,  when  our 
Bodies  are  temples  of  His  Holy  Spirit,  and  our  lives  in  the  very 
presence  of  Christ,  the  object  of  our  gratitude  and  hope. 
The  great  Creator  has  allowed  mankind  by  His  so-called  Science 
to  pierce,  generation  after  generation,  deeper  and  deeper  into 
the  secrets  of  His  Great  Creation,  and  maintenance  of  the  great 
round  world,  and  find  out  some  new  element  of  His  Power 
previously  unrevealed,  track  the  course  of  a  Planet,  which  has 
been  revolving  for  myriads  of  years,  but  has  only  come  within 
our  limited  form  of  vision  during  the  present  century,  and 
develop  some  phase  of  His  Almighty  Plan,  which  has  remained 
concealed  from  the  Beginning.  The  Interpretation  of  Nature 
is  the  unveiling  of  God. 

Nor  is  the  discovery  of  the  untruthfulness  of  legends  of 
Miracles  a  new  feature ;  there  always  were  some,  who  were  not 
deceived.    Livy,  who  died  just  before  Anno  Domini,  writes  thus  : 

"  Romce  aut  circa  urbem,  multa  ea  hyeme  prodigia  facta, 
"  quod  evenire  solet ;  motis  in  religionem  animis  multa  et 
"  nunciata,  et  temer6  credita  sunt." 

Belief  in  Miracles  ceases,  when  Education,  and  the  knowledge 
of  the  laws  of  Nature,  become  diffused  through  a  population, 
and  whatever  may  have  been  the  case  in  former  centuries,  they 
are  now  the  outcome  of  a  deliberate  fraud.  If  at  any  period  of 
their  long  existence  the  Hebrew  Race  were  in  need  of  Prophecy 
and  Miracles,  it  is  now,  and  yet  none  is  vouchsafed. 

In  1843  I  was  present  on  the  occasion  of  the  liquefaction  of 
the  blood  of  St.  Januarius  in  the  Cathedral  of  Naples  :  by 
favour  of  the  Clergy  I  got  very  near  the  ostensorium,  and  saw 
the  dark  lump  gradually  melt  into  red  blood  :  it  was  a  trick 
worthy  of  a  Conjuror,   and  very  well  exhibited.      In  Brittany 


(      79      ) 

they  are  less  liberal  to  strangers.  There  was  an  arch-saint  in 
the  place,  St.  Yves,  who  was  patron  of  the  town,  and  who,  if 
prayed  to  with  fervour,  would  obligingly  kill  a  man's  enemy 
for  him  within  a  twelvemonth  by  sudden  illness.  This  good 
saint,  or  rather  his  wooden  presentment,  stretched  out  his  arms 
once  a  year  to  bless  the  people  of  Treguier,  but  it  was  in- 
dispensable to  the  acccomplishment  of  this  Miracle  that  the 
whole  congregation  should  fix  their  gaze  on  the  ground.  If  a 
single  unbeliever  raised  his  eyes  to  see,  if  the  arms  were  really 
lifted,  the  saint,  "justly  incensed  by  such  a  want  of  faith, 
would  refuse  to  perform,"  and,  of  course,  the  unbeliever  had 
to  face  the  wrath  of  his  infuriated  fellow-townsmen,  who  had 
been  defrauded  of  their  blessing. 


2.  Prophecies,  Auguries,  Ordeals. 

This  is  a  well-known  feature  of  past  ages  and  former 
Religions:  as  a  fact,  the  Idea  has  died  out:  the  public  Press, 
and  public  Conscience,  would  not  tolerate  the  existence  of  a 
Prophecy,  which  was  not  properly  fulfilled,  and  in  the  plain 
sense  of  the  word,  and  as  was  intended  by  the  Prophet.  In 
Virgil's  ^neid  there  are  two  very  pretty  Prophecies  in  the  early 
books,  which  are  fulfilled  in  the  later :  there  must  be  no  doubt 
now  as  to  the  date,  on  which  the  Prophecy  was  promulgated  : 
those,  recorded  by  Virgil,  and  in  other  books,  are  Prophecies 
after  the  event.  Shakespeare  allows  himself  to  predict,  that 
Queen  Elizabeth  would  die  unmarried  :  his  play  of  Henry  VIII 
was  written  after  her  death :  it  is  a  mere  license  of  Poetry. 
Seneca  made  a  lucky  Prophecy  as  to  the  discovery  of  America ; 
the  Poet  Horace  predicted  that  his  charming  poetry  would  be 
read  hereafter  all  over  the  world ;  the  Mother  of  Christ 
predicted  that  all  Nations  would  call  her  blessed  ;  Isaiah 
predicted,  that  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  would  cover  the 
Earth  as  the  waters  cover  the  Sea :  all  these  utterances  have 
become  strictly  true :  they  were  looking  into  a  dim  and  remote 
future,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  about  the  material  fulfilment 
of  their  predictions,  except  as  to  a  small  part  of  the  round 
world. 

But  attempts  have  been  made  in  all  ages,  and  countries,  to 
ascertain  the  near  and  impending  future,  and  Religion  generally 
has  been  the  machine  made  use  of:  we  come  into  contact  with 
a  miscellaneous  horde  :  Soothsayers,  inquirers  of  God,  Augurs, 
Diviners,  Watchers  of  the  course  of  Birds,  Vaticinators, 
Examiners  of  entrails  of  Animals,  Interpreters  of  Omens, 
Interpreters  of  Dreams,  Professional  Cursers,  Professional 
Blessers,  Tellers  of  Lucky  Days,   Fortune-tellers  by  the  palm 


(       80      ) 

of  the  hand,  Oracles,  such  as  Delphi,  Dodona,  Astrologers, 
Finders  out  of  Lucky  Days.  The  words  "  liars,  and  deceivers 
of  mankind,"  may  apply  to  all  such,  and  they  have  totally 
disappeared,  and  it  is  difficult  to  understand,  how  the  Hebrew 
Nation  could  have  lent  itself  to  such  practices  seriously  after 
their  experience  of  the  scene,  which  took  place  in  the  presence 
of  Ahab,  and  Jehoshaphat  (II  Chronicles,  xviii,  21,  22).  The 
Augurs  were  exposed  in  a  memorable  passage  of  Cicero  :  the 
Oracles,  after  being  very  dubious  and  facing  both  ways,  at  last 
became  dumb :  if  any  Sovereign  were  to  ask  to  have  his  dreams 
interpreted,  he  would  be  overwhelmed  with  ridicule  :  Professors 
of  Palmistry  are  sent  to  prison  :  Lucky  Days,  and  Omens,  are 
only  spoken  of  as  a  kind  of  joke. 

The  practice  of  "  inquiring  of  the  Lord,"  either  directly,  or 
by  an  ephod,  is  painfully  frequent  in  the  Hebrew  Historical 
Books  :  it  indicates  the  low  state  of  intellectual  culture  of  that 
Nation :  it  is  difficult  to  say  by  what  channel  the  answer  came : 
as  it  is  stated  now,  it  reads  as  if  Saul  had  a  telephonic 
communication :  it  is  noteworthy  that  Hezekiah  and  Josiah 
had  no  such  communications.  The  first  line  of  Newton's 
hymn  does  not  come  under  this  category  :  "  I  asked  the  Lord," 
etc. :  this  refers  to  a  spiritual  communication  betwixt  the  Soul 
of  a  man  and  his  Creator  on  a  matter  affecting  his  Soul,  not 
regarding  mundane  matters. 

The  magnificent  prophecy  of  Virgil  in  the  JEneid  regarding 
the  birth  and  early  death  of  young  Marcellus,  indicates  the 
liberty,  which  Poets  were  allowed  to  take  with  Truth,  and 
how  highly  such  efforts  were  commended.  The  same  Poet 
would  make  us  believe,  that  yEneas  was  supported  in  his  troubles 
by  the  sure  word  of  Prophecy.  He  puts  words  also  in  the 
mouth  of  Dido,  predicting  the  triumphant  career  of  the  Cartha- 
ginian General,  Hannibal,  as  avenging  her  wrongs  :  it  is  very 
charming  to  read,  and  it  gives  us  an  idea  of  the  feelings  on  that 
subject  of  the  elder  world.  Horace  puts  similar  hopeful  words 
in  the  mouth  of  Teucer,  when  seeking  a  new  country,  but 
all  this  was  long  after  the  fact :  the  principle  may  be  laid  down, 
that,  unless  you  are  sure  of  the  date  of  the  death  of  the  Prophet, 
and  its  authenticity,  it  is  nothing  worth.  The  uncertainty  of  the 
date  of  the  Book  of  Daniel,  now  relegated  to  the  time  of 
the  Maccabees,  destroys  his  prophetic  reputation. 

The  new  Pythagoreans,  a  school  totally  independent  of  the 
Hebrews,  though  coming  into  existence  in  Alexandria,  thirsted 
for  Prophecies,  Oracles,  and  Signs,  and  thus  gave  an  expression 
to  the  longing  prevalent  in  the  Western  World,  just  before 
Anno  Domini,  for  a  supernatural  revelation  of  the  Divine  Will. 
The  Fourth  Eclogue  of  Virgil  is  but  one  evidence  of  a  fact, 
which    we    must    take    count    of,    for    it    is    patent.      Tacitus, 


(       81       ) 

Suetonius,  and  Josephus,  record  that  there  was  a  wide-spread 
belief  that  some  one  coming  from  the  East  would  rule  the 
world :  they  considered  the  prediction  fulfilled  in  the  return 
of  the  General  Vespasian  from  Jerusalem  to  be  made  Emperor: 
they  attributed  the  rebellion  of  the  Jews  to  their  misinterpre- 
tation of  this  rumour  in  the  appearance  of  their  promised 
Messiah.  The  Christians  took,  and  still  take,  a  third  view. 
At  the  time  of  the  Mutinies,  1857,  there  was  current  a  Prophecy 
that  a  king,  named  Duli'p,  would  conquer  Delhi :  as  a  fact,  the 
Sikh  soldiers  did  help  materially  the  conquest :  I  myself  had 
heard  of  this  rumour  before  the  iMutinies.  From  time  to  time, 
through  the  length  and  breadth  of  British  India,  a  particular 
Prophetic  INIessage  is  announced,  more  especially  in  times 
of  political  trouble.  Jordanus,  a  Monk  of  the  order  of  the 
Dominicans,  reports  in  his  book,  Mirabilia  Descripta,  1430  ad., 
the  Prophecy  current  among  the  people  of  India,  that  the  Latins 
would  subjugate  the  world.  Prophecy,  in  fact,  represents  an 
apprehension.  There  was  nothing  foreign  to  the  feelings  of  the 
age,  or  of  reasonable  probability,  in  the  facts  recorded  in 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles :  (i)  that  a  famine  should  be  predicted, 
is  a  fact  of  annual  occurrence  in  India,  as  common  as  that  the 
hay-crop  has  failed  in  England-;  (2)  that  a  man  in  the  circum- 
stances of  Paul  should  run  the  chance  of  imprisonment,  after 
what  he  had  been  doing  in  Asia  Minor  and  Greece,  required  no 
great  strength  of  Prophecy.  In  the  time  of  the  great  upheaval 
of  Religious  conceptions,  when  Mithra,  Serapis,  Bona  Dea, 
were  all  mingling  in  the  confusion.  Divination  of  all  kinds  was 
to  be  expected.  Tertullian  tells  us,  that  his  world  was  crowded 
with  Oracles,  second  sight-seers,  fortune-tellers.  At  an  earlier 
period  Plato  doubted,  and  Aristotle  remarked,  that  it  was  not 
easy  to  despise,  such  predictions,  or  to  believe  in  them.  Cicero 
has  left  his  opinion  in  his  Essay,  "  De  Divinatione."  Porphyry 
thought,  that  the  only  sure  Religion  was  in  direct  communi- 
cation from  the  gods,  and  wrote  a  book  on  the  Philosophy 
to  be  drawn  from  Oracles.  There  was  always  on  the  lips 
of  men  the  Prophecy,  and  in  the  hearts  of  men,  a  firm  belief, 
that  God  was  wont  to  warn  beforehand,  when  great  misfortunes 
were  to  happen  to  a  City  or  Nation.  This  marks  the  great 
intellectual  gulf  between  the  Past  and  the  Present. 
In  a  fragment  of  Euripides  we  read  : 

"  He  is  the  best  prophet  who  guesses  best." 

{Ramage^  p.  158.) 

We  read  how  the  King  of  Israel  blamed  a  Prophet  for  always 
prophesying  things  unfavourable  to  him;  he  must  have  believed, 
that  the  Prophet  could  say  what  he  liked. 

6 


(       82       ) 

Assur-bani-pal,  in  one  of  his  Inscriptions  after  the  conquest 
of  Babylon,  writes  :  "  In  accordance  with  Prophecies,  I  cleared 
"  the  mercy-seats  of  their  temples ;  I  purified  their  chief  places 
"  of  Prayer;  I  appeased  their  gods  with  penitential  Psalms;  I 
"  restored  their  daily  Sacrifice."     (Sayce  :  Monuments,  p.  460.) 

Orpheus  thus  describes  the  Prophet : 

I  a  C    eovja, 
oaaare  TrpoaOev  e'lp',  oaa  c    eaaerai   ua'tepov  avOis, 

which  centuries  later  Virgil  rendered  {JEn.  iv,  392) : 

"  Novit  namque  omnia  vatis, 
"  Quce  sint,  quse  fuerint,  quae  mox  ventura  trahantur." 

The  Editors  of  Newspapers,  the  occupiers  of  Pulpits  and 
Missionary  platforms,  are  often  exceedingly  prophetic  without 
the  restraining  qualifications  of  a  Vatis,  an  accurate  knowledge 
of  the  present,  and  any  knowledge  of  the  past. 

In  the  Expository  Ti??ies  of  1894  appeared  a  paper  entitled 
•'  Hebrew  Prophecy  and  INIodern  Criticism,"  and  a  critic  has 
recorded  the  following  remarks  on  this  paper  :  "  Why  it  has 
"  this  important  character  will  best  appear  from  a  summary  of 
"  its  contents,  which  we  will  give  as  accurately  as  possible. 
"  Starting  from  the  fact,  that  this  is  an  age  of  unparalleled 
"  mental  activity,  indicated  by  the  increasing  demand  for 
"  education,  and  the  changed  character  of  it  in  itself,  he  passes 
"  on  to  the  consideration  of  the  effects,  which  this  of  necessity 
"  must  have  on  Theology.  We  must,  therefore,  translate  the  thought 
"  of  Religion  into  the  best  thought  of  our  day.  It  follows  that 
"  theological  methods  are  undergoing  complete  change.  This 
"  is  evident  both  in  apologetics,  and  the  exegesis  of  prophetic 
"  writings.  The  old  method  was,  first,  to  assume  a  certain 
"  number  of  facts  about  the  Bible,  and  then  to  study  it  ivith 
"  this  nnderstandi?tg;  the  modern  does  not  necessarily  accept, 
"  or  reject,  any  of  these  assumptions,  but  it  does  not  allow 
"  them  to  prejudice  the  study  of  Scripture.  Thus  it  becomes 
"  of  obvious  importance,  that  we  should  ascertain,  in  what 
"  ways  Biblical  criticism  affects  our  view  of  the  character  of 
"  Prophecy,  and  its  value  as  a  branch  of  Religious  evidences. 
"It  would  appear  that  'the  tendency  of  modern  exegesis 
"  obviously  affects  the  argument  from  Prophecy  in  two  impor- 
"  tant  respects:  (i)  It  often  shows,  that  what  were  previously 
"  considered  to  be  predictions  of  future  events  fulfilled  within 
"  the  period  of  Jewish  history,  were  in  all  probability  no  predic- 
"  tions  at  all.  (2)  It  makes  it  equally  clear,  that  what  were 
"  believed  to  be  simple  predictions  of  a  distant  future,  have 
"  their  most  natural  explanation  in  the  historical  events  of  their 
"  own  time^  " 


(       83       ) 

The  Apolline  Oracle  of  Delphi  was  a  mighty  Power,  ever  on 
the  side  of  IMorality,  bringing  home  to  men's  minds  the  notion 
of  Right  and  Wrong,  of  Reward  and  Punishment :  its  predictions 
as  to  futurity  were  couched  in  ambiguous  language ;  its  opinion 
as  to  Right  and  Wrong  was  unhesitating.  Thoughtful  men, 
calling  themselves  Christians  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  must 
be  cautious  ere  they  laugh  at  the  Greek  Oracles,  which  lasted  so 
many  centuries,  and  died  from  their  own  exhaustion,  not  from 
foreign  conquest:  they  had  lived  through  all  the  Greek  Epochs, 
from  the  most  barbarous,  and  elementary,  to  the  most  polished 
forms  of  Human  development;  they  had  no  life  in  themselves, 
and  died.  The  Christian  Historian,  who  refers  their  power  to 
illusion,  or  imposture,  forges  a  weapon  against  his  own  Religious 
conception.  He,  who  believes  in  an  all-wise  Providence,  and 
the  efficacy  of  Prayer,  must  recollect,  that  in  doing  so  he  accepts 
the  principle,  which  formed  the  basis  of  ancient  Divination. 
We  each  and  all  believe,  that  our  bodies  are  temples  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  that  we  lend  ourselves  to  the  influence  of  that 
Spirit  in  answer  to  Prayer  in  the  discharge  of  our  every-day 
duties,  and  in  the  vicissitudes  of  life :  we  believe  that  an  answer 
is  conveyed  to  us :  the  Oracles  did  no  more. 

•'  The  last  utterance  of  the  Pythian  Priestess  was  a  kind 
"  of  whisper  of  desolation  in  reply  to  the  inquiry  of  the 
"Emperor  Julian:  the  last  fragment  of  Greek  Poetry,  which 
"  has  moved  the  hearts  of  men,  the  last  Greek  hexameters, 
"  which  retain  the  ancient  cadence,  the  majestic  melancholy 
"  flow  : 

eiTTaTe  tlo  fiaaiXTji,  x<^/iinl  ireae.  haihd\.o<s  av\a' 
ovKeri  (Poifto^  e)(^ei  Ka\v/3au,  ov^uii/Tica  ccKpvtp', 
ov  TTayai/  \a\eou(Tau'  dTrea/SeTo  kcu  \aKov  vdwp." 

{Myers^  Essays,  p.  loi.) 

What  is  a  miraculous  vision  }  "  A  mistaking  of  subjective  im- 
pression for  outward  revelation."  Voices  are  rarely,  if  ever, 
heard  by  two  persons  :  the  Holy  Spirit  still  speaks  to  the  Soul 
in  v/ords,  which  cannot  be  uttered. 

We  read  in  Homer  (Iliad,  H,  93  ;  Odyssey,  HI,  2 15)  of  a  voice, 
or  rumour,  which  runs  Heaven-sent  through  multitudes  of  men, 
and  is  deemed  the  voice  of  Jupiter:  oaaa,  (firjut^,  kXijcwv,  oucptj 
(Myers'  Essays,  p.  13). 

The  Etruscans  had  three  ways  of  discovering  the  will  of  the 
gods:  (i)  thunder  and  lightning,  (2)  the  flight  of  birds,  which 
they  believed  was  under  Divine  guidance,  and  for  a  purpose, 
(3)  examination  of  the  entrails  of  animals  offered  in  Sacrifice. 
The  interpretation  of  these  signs  rested  with  a  body  of  arrogant 
men,  who  pretended  to  have  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  tiie 


(       84       ) 

Will  of  Heaven,  and  decrees  of  Fate  (Canon  Rawlinson's  Religion 
of  Ancient  World,  p.  192).  We  find  a  survival  of  this  arrogant 
presumption  of  knowledge  of  God's  dealings  in  Missionary- 
Society  Reports,  where  such  phrases  occur  as  "their  work 
being  owned  by  God"  ;  "God's  manifest  guidance."  The  theory 
of  Augury  was  this:  the  Stoics  held  that  the  gods,  out  of  their 
goodness,  had  impressed  on  the  nature  of  things  certain  marks, 
and  notices  of  future  events  ;  such  as  on  entrails  of  beasts,  the 
flight  of  birds,  thunder,  and  other  celestial  signs,  which  by  long 
observation,  and  the  experience  of  ages,  were  reduced  to  an  art, 
and  applied  to  the  events,  which  were  signified  by  it.  Cicero 
was  of  opinion,  that  the  original  institution  of  Augury  was  from 
a  persuasion  of  its  divinity,  and  that,  though  by  the  advance- 
ment of  knowledge,  that  opinion  was  outgrown,  still  it 
ought  to  be  retained  for  the  sake  of  its  use  to  the  Republic. 
This  is  the  sin  of  many  modern  forms  and  institutions ;  they 
are  retained,  because  they  are  useful,  though  known  to  be  false. 

The  Augurs  were  possessed  especially  of  the  sacred  lore 
connected  with  birds,  who  gave  omens  in  three  ways :  flight, 
note,  manner  of  eating  their  food :  they  had  a  system  of 
interpretation  for  all  phenomena:  nothing  could  be  done  by 
the  Roman  State  without  consulting  them.  The  right  of 
consulting  the  will  of  the  gods  belonged  to  the  Kings,  and 
in  republican  days  to  the  Consuls  or  Magistrates:  they  controlled 
the  operation  :  the  Augurs  were  referred  to  for  the  interpretation 
(Middleton :  Cicero,  p.  506).  So  long  as  this  control  was 
maintained  by  a  strong  Government,  order  could  be  preserved  : 
we  see  the  contrary  in  the  petty  Kingdom  of  Judah,  where 
the  Prophet  became  an  incendiary :  no  Government  could  have 
been  carried  on  under  the  conditions  described  in  the  Prophecies 
of  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah  :  we  have  only  to  imagine  Preachers,  or 
itinerant  Prophets,  going  about,  and  uttering  denunciations 
of  the  Powers  that  be,  and  asserting  Divine  knowledge :  we 
can  see  what  a  change  had  come  over  men's  minds  at  the  Epoch 
of  the  Anno  Domini,  when  Paul  recommends  submission  to 
Civil  Authority:  how  were  the  poor  people  to  know  whether 
the  Prophets  were  true  or  false  ?  Jeremiah  (x,  24,  25),  though 
admitting  that  Jehovah  was  Lord  of  the  world,  could  not  under- 
stand why  He  was  so  kind  to  the  Gentiles  :  he  calls  out  to 
Jehovah  to  "pour  out  His  fury  on  the  heathen,  that  know  Thee 
not,  and  the  families  that  call  not  on  Thy  name  "  :  yet  all  were 
God's  poor  children,  living  by  His  favour,  who  hateth  nothing 
that  He  hath  made  :  in  fact,  the  violent  fanatical  Journals  of 
modern  time  are  the  only  analogues  of  the  utterances  of  the 
Prophets,  who  rendered  all  Civil  Government  impossible,  and 
brought  on  the  ruin  of  Judea. 

In   private   life   we   have   still   in   the    Nineteenth    Century 


(       85       ) 

revivals  of  Superstition  :  unlucky  days,  bad  omens,  banshee- 
cries,  tea-leaves  in  cups,  thirteen  at  dinner :  such  was  it  at 
Rome  also.     The  beautiful  lines  of  Tibullus  occur  to  me : 

"  Oh  !   quoties  ingressus  iter,  mihi  tristia  dixi 
"  Offensum  in  porta  signa  dedisse  pedem. 

"  Delia  non  usquam,  quae  me  quam  mittat  ab  urbe 
"  Dicitur  ante  omnes  consuluisse  Deos." 

In  Xenophon's  Anabasis,  III,  2-9,  we  read  how  "Tnapvinai  n^," 
"somebody  sneezed."  Xenophon  was  a  pupil  of  Socrates,  and 
yet  he  expresses  an  opinion,  that  it  was  a  favourable  augury 
from  Jupiter.  In  India,  when  a  person  in  power  sneezes,  his 
attendants  snap  their  fingers ;  in  England  a  sneeze  is  generally 
accompanied  by  the  exclamation  of  "  God  bless  you  !  " 

Ordeals  are  a  further  development  of  the  same  notions :  they 
prevail  in  Africa  still  to  discover  witches  in  a  cruel  and 
abominable  form ;  in  India,  in  an  innocent  form,  to  discover 
petty  thefts,  such  as  chewing  of  rice,  throwing  of  mud,  passing 
the  hand  over  a  table  covered  with  ink. 

I  read  in  Maspero's  Dawn  of  Civilization,  p.  267,  the  following, 
as  regards  the  Egyptian  belief: 

"  Sometimes  in  the  dark  the  Statues  in  the  Temples  raised 
"their  voices,  and  announced  their  will,  or  made  gestures: 
"  when  they  were  consulted,  and  made  no  sign,  this  meant 
"  disapprobation;  if  they  bowed  their  heads  once  or  twice,  this 
"  showed,  that  they  approved :  no  State-affair  was  settled 
"  without  consulting  them."  In  fact,  the  crafty  Rulers  made 
this  excuse  to  get  time  for  deliberation  on  any  matters. 


3.  National  Sins  and  Punishments,  Anger  and  Hostility 
OF  THE  Deity. 


This  feeling  is  clearly  evidenced  in  the  Religions  of  the  elder 
world.  The  individuality  of  man  face  to  face  with  his  Creator 
was  not  apprehended ;  men  were  thought  of  as  flocks  of  sheep, 
differentiated  by  colour  of  skin,  Language,  shape  of  skull  and 
body,  and  political  institutions,  but  answerable  collectively  for 
each  other,  and  one  generation  for  former  generations.  The 
Mahometan  has  gone  to  the  other  extreme,  and  deals  with  his 
Creator  as  an  individual :  the  whole  world  may  perish,  but  he 
will  be  saved  by  his  Faith.  There  are  Christian  Sects,  who 
practise  the  same  unchristian  Individualism.  A  Plymouth 
Sister,  being  asked,  whether  she  thought,  that  she  and  her  sister 


(       86       ) 

were  the  only  persons,  who  by  God's  mercy  would  be  saved,  at 
once  replied,  that  she  was  not  sure  of  her  sister's  salvation. 
The  Latin  Poet  Horace  plaintively  remarks: 

"  Delicta  majorum  immeritus  lues, 
"  Romane,  donee  templa  refeceris, 
"  ^desque  labentes  Deorum"  ; 

and  the  general  feeling  of  Pagan  Rome  was,  that  the  Empire 
was  being  ruined  by  the  neglect  of  the  Worship  of  the  Roman 
gods,  who  had  made  her  great.  It  is  notorious  how  salient  a 
feature  this  was  in  the  Jewish  History.  Ahab's  grandchildren 
had  to  suffer  for  his  sins  :  our  fathers  sinned  ;  we  were 
punished.  Manasseh's  sins  were  not  purged  even  by  his 
own  death,  but  the  consequences  were  carried  on  to  his  son 
Josiah.  The  poor  sheep  had  three  days  pestilence  because 
David  made  a  census  of  his  little  tribe,  and  no  punishment 
seems  to  follow  our  Indian  census  of  287  Millions.  Ezekiel 
tried  to  soften  down  the  hardness  of  the  original  decree, 
that  children  should  suffer  for  the  sins  of  their  parents  ; 
Plutarch,  Isocrates,  Solon,  and  Herodotus,  seem  to  echo 
the  same  sentiments.  The  compiler  of  the  Chronicles, 
who  lived  some  time  after  the  return  from  the  Captivity,  seems 
to  have  outgrown  this  feeling  to  a  certain  extent ;  the  solidarity 
of  Sinners  is  no  longer  a  dogma. 

Even  in  Great  Britain,  at  the  end  of  the  Nineteenth  Century, 
with  a  House  of  Commons  comprising  Atheists,  Mahometans, 
Parsi,  men  devoid  of  any  Religious  element,  by  the  side  of  a 
confused  body  of  Religious  Sectarians,  we  hear  the  cuckoo-cry 
of  National  Sins.  Sometimes  the  Indo-Chinese  Opium-Trade 
is  so  described,  while  the  drunkenness  of  our  population,  and  the 
unblushing  profligacy  of  our  streets,  the  slaughter  of  poor 
African  barbarians  in  the  interest  of  Missions,  Commerce  in 
Alcoholic  Liquors,  Colonization,  and  unblushing  annexation,  is 
omitted.  What  National  Sin  can  be  greater  than  the  slaughter, 
confiscation  of  private  property,  and  political  annexation,  in 
]Ma-Tabeleland  in  South  Africa  by  a  Chartered  Company  for 
the  sake  of  gold-dust  in   1894.'^ 

Montefiore,  in  his  Hibbert-Lecture  on  the  Origin  and  Growth 
of  Religion  of  the  Ancient  Hebrews,  remarks,  p.  515  : 

"  The  feeling  of  commercial  integrity  was  consistent,  and  even 
"  co-existent,  with  a  sense  of  Human  responsibility  as  towards 
"  God  ;  but  the  same  word  was  used  by  the  Hebrews  to  express 
"  both  iniquity  and  its  penalty.  When  they  and  Israel  were 
"  afflicted,  they  tended  to  feel  sinful ;  when  they  and  Israel 
"  were  prosperous,  they  tended  to  feel  righteous." 

Another  feature,  which  was  universal,  was  the  anger  of  the 


(       87      ) 

Deity.  Virgil  tells  us  how  Juno  persistently  persecuted  ^Eneas, 
the  supposed  founder  of  the  Roman  Race.  The  Poet  expresses 
a  pious  astonishment : 

"tantcCne  animis  ceelestibus  irse  !  " 

Apollo  sent  disease  into  the  Greek  camp,  because  the  daughter 
of  one  of  his  priests  had  been  carried  off  by  Achilles.  He  took 
umbrage,  because  the  followers  of  Ulysses  captured  some  of 
his  cattle,  and  killed  them.  So-called  sacrilege  was  severely 
punished,  even  though  the  offender  had  erred  without  know- 
ledge :  worse  than  Anger,  Envy  is  imputed  to  the  Deity : 
Niobe's  children  were  killed,  only  because  the  mother's  pride 
of  them  oftended  Apollo  and  Diana.  Can  it  be  possible,  that 
sensible  people,  who  were  far  advanced  beyond  barbarism, 
could  have  believed  such  things  ?  It  marks  a  frightful  degrada- 
tion of  the  Religious  Idea  to  attribute  Disease  or  Death  to  the 
anger  or  jealousy  of  the  Deity,  and  not  to  His  Loving  Wisdom  ; 
still  more  shocking  is  it,  that  Historians  should  impute  to  the 
Deity's  interference  the  death  of  the  enemies  of  the  party, 
which  they  support.  Lucretius  soars  above  these  idle  notions 
(Book  I,  v.  6i): 

"  Ipsa  suis  pollens  opibus,  nihil  indiga  nostri. 
Nee  bene  promeritis  capitur,  nee  tangitur  ira." 

The  Jewish  Chronicles  are  not  free  from  this  strange  obliquity 
of  vision:  it  is  sad  to  read  (I  Chronicles,  xiii,  lo),  that  Uzza, 
who  put  forth  his  hand  to  hold  the  Ark,  when  the  oxen  stumbled, 
raised  the  anger  of  the  Lord,  "and  He  smote  him  .  .  .  and 
he  died  "  ;  and  in  other  passages,  the  Anger  and  Jealousy  of 
the  Deity  are  alluded  to.  So  imperfect  was  the  conception  of 
the  Hebrew  Chronicler  of  the  Deity. 

What  an  imperfect  Idea  they  could  have  had  of  Sin  .?  In 
I  Samuel,  xiv,  34,  I  read  : 

"Sin  not  against  the  Lord  in  eating  with  the  blood"  '.  they 
killed  their  neighbouring  tribes  by  the  scores,  seized  their 
land,  plundered  their  cattle,  burnt  their  houses,  enslaved  their 
females  :  this  was  apparently  no  Sin.  They  killed  women  and 
children  ;  when  Achan  stole  a  Babylonian  garment,  not  only 
was  he  killed,  but  the  Hebrews  killed  his  wife  and  children 
also.  Then  the  awful  phrase  occurs  frequently,  that  the  Deity 
sold  His  people  into  the  hands  of  their  enemies:  it  seems 
impossible  to  conceive  such  things  of  the  Deity,  even  in  a 
moment  of  suffering  ;  but  to  record  such  phrases  centuries  after- 
wards for  the  teaching  of  the  people,  seems  to  pass  beyond  all 
comprehension.     We  read  in  Kings  how  Jehu  slaughtered,  in 


(       88       ) 

the  most  deliberate  and  treacherous  way,  the  Royal  children  of 
Ahab,  the  Royal  children  of  the  Kings  of  Judah  only  coming 
on  a  visit,  the  Priests  of  Baal :  nothing  but  praise  was  heaped 
upon  him  for  such  dastardly  conduct. 

When  the  pious  Jews  of  the  time  of  Jeremiah  were  denouncing 
Idolatry  in  their  own  Nation  and  the  Heathen,  they  were  un- 
wittingly falling  into  as  great  a  theological  error  as  those,  whom 
they  denounced  :  they  believed,  that  Disease  and  Death  were  the 
chastisements  of  the  offended  Deity  on  those  who  would  not 
recognise  Him.     So  Horace  writes,  HI,  ii,  31,  Odes: 

"  Raro  antecedentem  scelestum 
Deseruit  pede  Poena  claudo." 

In  the  Psalms  we  find  devout  men  forgetting  charity  so  far  as 
to  pray  God  to  punish  their  enemies  :  they  chose  to  suppose,  that 
they  knew  the  secrets  of  God,  and  that  all,  who  did  not  believe 
with  them,  were  in  the  wrong,  and  justly  visited  by  punish- 
ment :  their  theory  was  unjust  and  cruel. 

4.  Signs  from  Heaven. 

Nothing  appears  so  often  in  pre-Christian  Religions,  or  in 
mistaken  views  of  the  precepts  of  Christianity,  than  the 
connection  of  the  Religious  conception  with  phenomena  of 
Nature,  such  as  Thunder  and  Lightning,  Rain  and  Storm, 
Eclipses,  Earthquakes,  Eruptions,  Wells  of  Naphtha,  and  with 
the  incidents  of  Human  Life,  such  as  Accidents,  Sickness, 
Death  by  what  is  called  Visitation  of  God  :  such  phenomena 
and  incidents  are  attributed  to  the  Deity  to  mark  His  favour  to 
the  so-called  good,  and  His  aversion  to  the  so-called  evil. 

In  Him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being;  He  is  about 
our  path  and  about  our  bed,  but  Sickness  and  Death  are 
blessings  in  disguise,  for  "  He  giveth  His  beloved  sleep,"  and 
"  Whom  the  Lord  loveth  He  chasteneth."  The  pages  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin  secular  and  Religious  writers  furnish  endless 
instances  of  the  feeling,  that  thunder  and  lightning  contain  a 
message  from  the  Deity,  that  sudden  death,  such  as  that  of 
Ananias  and  Sapphira,  and  Arius,  were  punishments.  Only 
this  year,  during  a  strike  at  Hull,  the  manager  of  a  firm  was 
struck  by  paralysis  and  death,  and  the  strikers  attributed  it  to 
a  visitation  of  God.  In  Bangal  the  appearance  of  a  Comet 
heralded  a  disaster :  the  poor  agriculturists  anticipated  a  dearth 
and  famine ;  the  corn-dealer  could  not  consider  a  famine  a 
misfortune,  and  thought  that  the  Comet  indicated  something  else. 

In  India  grants  used  to  be  made  by  the  British  Government 


(       89       ) 

to  the  Brahmans,  and  Mahometan  officials,  to  pray  for  Rain  : 
this  was  stopped.  In  Great  Britain  the  custom  seems  still  to 
prevail,  though  contrary  to  all  reason.  A  light  crop  of  grain  in 
South  Russia  is  a  great  blessing  to  the  people  of  India.  A 
short  crop  of  cotton  in  the  Southern  States,  owing  to  want  of 
Rain,  makes  the  fortune  of  other  countries. 

The  Jews  were  not  free  from  this  delusion,  as  we  read  in 
Samuel  of  the  Lord  sending  thunder  to  discomfort  the 
Philistines,  and  sending  thunder  and  rain  at  time  of  harvest 
with  a  view  of  confirming  the  power  of  Samuel. 

An  eclipse  of  the  Sun  or  Moon  in  India  is  still  an  event 
of  solemn  importance:  the  Greek  Historian  tells  us  how 
combatants  engaged  in  battle  left  off  fighting  on  account 
of  an  eclipse.  Earthquakes  and  eruptions  were  deemed 
messages  from  the  Deity.  Hailstones  are  described  as  falling 
on  an  enemy  during  a  fight,  and  killing  more  than  fell  by  the 
sword.  The  arrest  of  the  Sun  and  Moon  in  their  progress 
to  help  on  a  greater  slaughter  can  scarcely  be  seriously  treated, 
for  as  the  Sun  never  moves,  there  was  no  occasion  to  arrest 
its  progress :  this  is  one  of  the  stories,  the  survival  of  which 
is  to  be  regretted,  and,  as  a  fact,  is  only  a  quotation  from 
a  book,  of  which  nothing  is  known,  and  which  can  scarcely 
claim  to  be  inspired. 

Lucretius,  who  wrote  before  Anno  Domini,  remarks  that  the 
gods  often  destroyed  their  own  temples  with  lightnings. 
Professor  Sayce  writes,  Hibbert-Lectures,  p.  300  :  "  The  pro- 
"  phetic  voice  of  Heaven  was  heard  in  thunder  by  Accadians, 
"  as  well  as  by  Semites :  the  sounds  of  Nature  were  to  them 
"  a  Divine  message :  the  roar  of  the  ocean  was  an  oracle ; 
"  subterranean  noises  were  messages  from  Hades." 

Only  within  the  last  few  years  I  read  in  a  Missionary  Report 
how  in  South  India  a  Missionary  pointed  out  to  a  Hindu  the 
inferiority  of  the  Deity,  whom  he  worshipped,  who  could  not 
protect  his  own  temple  from  being  destroyed  by  lightning  ? 
Have  the  steeples  of  Christian  Churches  never  been  struck 
by  lightning  ?  To  doubt  that  thunder  was  the  voice  of  God 
seemed  impious.  ^Eneas  is  described  by  Virgil  as  seeing  in 
Tartarus  a  certain  King,  named  Salmoneus,  who  was  undergoing 
punishment  for  the  following  reason  : 

"  Demens  !  qui  nimbos,  et  non  imitabile  fulmen 
JEve,  et  cornipedum  cursu,  simularat  equorum." 

(ySnt'id,  VI,  590.) 

The  utter  ignorance  in  ancient  time  of  the  physical  world, 
and  their  inability  to  explain  what  they  saw  by  natural  causes, 
and   the   pre-occupation   of  their   minds   with  the   paramount 


(      90       ) 

importance  of  their  own  private,  tribal,  or  National,  affairs,  led 
poor  weak  men  to  imagine,  that  the  Stars,  the  Planets,  the 
Comets,  Rainbows,  Eclipses,  fire  falling  from  Heaven,  had  no 
other  object  but  to  benefit  or  injure  them,  or  their  neighbours, 
or  their  enemies.  A  sign  from  Heaven  was  a  thing  demanded, 
as  a  voucher  of  authority,  or  a  proof  of  innocence.  It  is  difficult 
to  bring  the  mind  to  the  standpoint,  whence  such  things  were 
possible:  they  were  part  of  the  stock-in-trade  of  the  Prophet, 
and  the  Augur.  With  such  wonderful  allies  how  utterly 
kings,  an'd  great  men,  failed  in  what  they  had  to  do !  In 
II  Chronicles,  vii,  i  it  is  narrated  how  fire  came  down  and 
consumed  the  burnt  -  offering :  the  Chronicler  lived  about 
six  hundred  years  after  this  event,  which  took  place  in  a 
totally  illiterate  and  exceedingly  credulous  age. 

We  read  in  the  Kings,  that  the  Sun  went  back  on  the  Dial 
of  Ahaz  to  assure  Hezekiah  of  the  truth  of  Isaiah's  message. 
The  Pharisees  demanded  of  Christ  a  sign  from  Heaven  as  a 
voucher  for  His  authority,  for  even  at  that  late  period  the  world 
had  not  outgrown  the  old  notions.     In  Latin  Poets  we  read  . 

"  Sol  tibi  signa  dabit :  Solem  quis  dicere  falsum 

"  Audeat  ?  ille  etiam  czecos  intrare  tumultus 

"  Scepe  monet,  fraudemque  et  operta  tumescere  bella." 

The  eclipse  of  stars  was  supposed  to  portend  a  change  of 
the  flourishing  condition  of  Carthage.     (Justin,  XXII,  6.) 
In  Ovid's  Metamorphoses,  XV,  782, 

"  Signa  tamen  luctus  dant  baud  incerta  futuri : 

"  Soils  quoque  tristis  imago 
"  Lurida  sollicitis  prasbebat  lumina  terris." 

5.  Conception  of  Fate,  Nemesis,  'Epivi'v9. 

In  elder  days  there  was  a  strong  feeling  of  this  kind,  and 
to  a  certain  extent  a  salutary  feeling.  The  Mahometan  bears 
ills  patiently,  because  he  says  that  it  is  his  "  kismat."  In 
Christian  Poetry  mourners  are  consoled  by  allusion  to  the 
common  lot:  "Sic  voluere  Parcse "  settled  the  matter.  Still 
more  important  in  restraining  the  hand  of  violence  and  injustice 
was  Nemesis,  or  "At?;,  the  displeasure  of  the  Deity  at  something 
that  was  wrong,  and  the  power  of  the  'Epipvvs,  or  Fury, 
to  whom  was  committed  the  punishment  of  criminals  by  exciting 
the  tortures  of  conscience.  We  have  a  grand  instance  of  this 
in  the  tale  of  Orestes.  Nothing  could  justify  matricide :  an 
erring  mother  must  fall  by  some  other  hand  than  that  of  her 


(      91       ) 

son :  but  the  existence  of  such  feelings,  or  convictions,  argue 
a  state  of  mental  culture  above  that  of  the  savage  or  barbarian. 
King  Mtesa,  of  U-Ganda,  ordered  one  of  his  wives  to  be  led 
out  and  killed  for  some  petty  offence,  and  his  conscience  was 
not  troubled.  So  on  the  Niger  a  man  killed  his  Mother,  because 
her  conduct  was  vexatious  to  him,  and  felt  no  compunction, 
and  had  no  'Epii'uvv  after  him ;  in  fact,  he  could  not  see  that 
he  had  done  wrong  any  more  than  a  brute  beast.  It  might 
be  well  if  individuals,  and  especially  those  in  Power,  had  the 
thought  of  Nemesis,  and  'Epwi'V's,  more  before  their  eyes,  as 
the  lookers-on  see  so  many  instances  of  sorrow  following  sin 
with  unerring  certainty. 


92      ) 


CAP.  IV.     EARLY  HUMAN  PRACTICES  AND  NOTIONS. 


1.  Disposal  of  Dead. 

2.  Eschatology. 

3.  Mutilation  or  Disfigurement  of  Body. 

4.  Strange  and  Abominable  Customs. 


I.  Disposal  of  Dead. 


In  no  other  quarter  is  there  such  a  variety  of  customs,  as  in 
the  disposal  of  the  dead,  but  always  under  a  Religious 
sanction  :  the  Egyptian  embalmed,  and  enveloped  the  departed 
in  a  mummy ;  the  Etruscan  laid  him  away  in  a  rock  tomb,  with 
all  his  mortal  comforts  around  him ;  the  Jews  buried ;  the 
Greek,  and  Roman,  and  Indian,  burnt;  the  followers  of 
Zoroaster  exposed  the  body  to  the  birds  to  be  devoured.  More 
barbarous  Races  packed  them  up,  and  stowed  them  in  the  roof 
of  their  houses,  or  on  frame-works  of  wood  prepared  to  receive 
them.  If  civilized  Nations  have  hitherto  preferred  burying, 
they  have  for  the  future  to  confront  the  difficulty  of  finding 
space  for  the  ever-increasing  cemeteries.  However  different  the 
practice,  the  reason  for  the  practice  is  always  attributed  to 
Religion,  and  is  somehow  or  another  connected  with  the 
Resurrection  of  the  body,  though  it  is  obvious,  that  in  a  very 
short  time  after  sepulture  in  the  ground  the  body  is  consumed, 
nor  does  the  precaution  of  the  rich  in  embalming,  and  placing 
in  leaden  coffins,  arrest  the  progress  of  decay. 

The  urgent  necessity  of  funeral  rites  of  some  kind  is 
evidenced  by  passages  in  the  Sixth  Book  of  the  ^neid,  which 
describe  the  sad  state  of  the  Souls  of  those,  whose  bodies  have 
not  been  properly  disposed  of  after  death.  In  China  to  this  day 
the  Spirits  of  the  dead,  who  have  not  been  honoured  properly 
in  death,  become  a  trouble  and  curse  to  their  survivors.  In  the 
lower  classes  in  Europe  there  is  a  strong  feeling  on  the  subject. 
Tobit  in  the  Apocrypha  seemed  to  make  a  merit  before  God 
to  have  buried  the  bodies  of  his  countrymen,  when  he  found 
them. 


(       93       ) 

We  remark  in  the  Greek  Authors,  that  the  idea  of  a  body 
being  left  unburied,  and  not  properly  mourned,  was  deemed 
sad  and  terrible  : 

"  «X/\'  apa  Tov^je.  Kvue^re,  Kat  oiwvoi,  Kmecaylrai' 
"  KCt'jLteuov  tJ/  Treclw  eKU9  uarco^,  ovCe  K€  t<s  fieu 
"  KXavaei'  'A'X^a'uucwv'  /xdXa  <yap  /^le'^/a  fiytraTo  epf^/oi'. 

(Homer:  Od.,  Ill,  258.) 

We  find  traces  of  this  in  the  Tragedians :  Orestes  in  Iphigenia 
in  Aulis  deplores  that  there  will  be  no  sister  to  perform  the 
usual  rites  to  his  body:  Iphigenia,  being  warned  in  a  dream, 
that  Orestes  was  dead,  proceeded  to  perform  the  usual  rites, 
though  absent. 

The  echo  of  the  same  sentiment  comes  to  us  in  the  Latin 
Poets  : 

"  Non  hie  mihi  mater, 
"  Quae  legat  in  teneros  ossa  perusta  sinus ; 
"  Non  soror,  Assyrios  cineri  quce  dedat  honores, 
"  Etfleat  effusis  ante  sepulchra  comis." 

(TiBULLUS.) 

Perhaps,  after  all,  Cremation,  and  collecting  the  remnants 
in  a  vase  labelled  with  the  name  of  the  deceased,  is  the 
most  sanitary  method,  and  most  conducive  to  respect  for  the 
departed.  When  I  stood  lately  beside  the  Mummy  of  Rameses  II 
at  Cairo,  the  Pharaoh  of  the  Hebrew  oppression,  it  occurred 
to  me,  that  it  would  have  been  better  for  his  poor  remains, 
had  they  been  burnt  at  the  time  of  his  death  :  so  in  modern 
time  Earth  to  Earth  in  a  simple  wooden  coffin  is  better 
than  the  leaden  receptacle.  The  New  Guinea  -  custom  is 
certainly  the  nastiest,  where  the  body  of  the  Grandmother  laid 
up  in  the  roof  of  the  single  room  is  permitted  to  decay,  and 
drip  down  over  the  persons  of  her  descendants.  A  traveller, 
while  writing  in  his  journal  in  a  hut,  found  the  paper  of  his  note- 
book soiled  by  this  ancestral  rain. 

Custom,  no  doubt  not  distinct  from  Religion,  in  some  cases 
urges  the  stronger  to  put  an  end  to  the  lives  of  the  weaker: 
I  have  already  disposed  of  Human  Sacrifice.  Cannibalism  is 
credited  with  three  causes:  (i)  want  of  animal  food.  Where 
there  are  plenty  of  goats  there  is  no  occasion  to  eat  men  ;  in 
India  the  wolves  creep  into  the  inclosure  and  carry  off  infants, 
but,  where  there  are  plenty  of  goats,  they  prefer  kid-flesh : 
(2)  the  second  cause  is  the  desire  to  add  to  the  greatness  of 
the  triumph,  and  to  the  horror  of  the  enemy  in  his  dying 
moments :    (3)   if    the   slain   is    distinguished    for   bravery,    or 


(       94       ) 

strength,  it  is  hoped  by  eating  him  to  get  a  portion  of  his 
physical  gifts  :  an  English  Governor  of  a  West  African  Colony 
was  eaten  with  that  view. 

In  the  eleventh  volume  of  Gibbon's  "  Decline  and  Fall  "  I  read, 
how  the  Germans  many  centuries  ago  had  no  scruple  in 
bringing  the  life  of  their  parents  to  a  close,  if  they  lived  too 
long.  In  India  a  Religious  motive  is  added  :  until  made 
punishable  by  British  law,  pious  children  would  take  their  aged 
relatives  down  the  ghats  of  Banaras,  fill  their  mouths  with  mud, 
and  push  them  off  into  the  Ganges,  with  a  sure  and  certain 
hope  of  eternal  bliss  for  them.  In  Sumatra,  which  is  not  a 
Realm  of  Law,  annually  all  the  old  and  infirm,  when  there  is 
abundance  of  lemons,  are  gathered  together,  and  placed  on  the 
branches  of  the  trees,  under  the  shadow  of  which  there  are  large 
vessels  full  of  water :  the  branches  are  shaken  by  the  younger 
members  of  the  family,  while  they  sing:  "when  the  fruit  is 
ripe,  then  it  will  fall,"  and  the  old  bodies  fall  into  the  vessels, 
are  cooked,  and  eaten,  just  as  years  ago  they  had  eaten  their 
own  parents. 

Sometimes  in  Europe  the  way  of  disposing  of  the  dead 
seems  strange.  In  Naples  there  are  365  deep  wells:  one 
is  opened  each  day,  and  the  dead  are  thrown  into  it,  and  it  is 
fastened  up  for  one  year.  In  some  Monasteries,  at  Palermo 
and  Rome,  the  dead  Monks  are  still  visible  in  their  Monkish 
dress,  sad  and  loathsome  objects.  In  Austria  the  remains  of  the 
Imperial  dead  are  divided  :  the  body  goes  into  a  lead-cofifin, 
the  heart  into  a  separate  lead-heart-box,  and  the  brain  is 
disposed  of  elsewhere.  In  England  I  have  been  down  into 
family  vaults,  and  found  myself  in  the  midst  of  dead  ancestors, 
or  connections :  some  coffins  were  standing  upright ;  one  lady, 
who  died  in  foreign  parts,  came  home  in  a  leaden  coffin  fitting 
like  a  riding  habit.  The  sexton,  like  a  ghost,  was  quite  at  home 
amidst  his  charges,  and  handed  to  me  the  coffin  of  a  baby,  who 
had  died  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II,  which  had  a  little  shelf  of 
its  own  ;  above  the  vault  was  the  Family  Pew,  from  v/hich  one 
by  one  the  living  representatives  of  the  old  Race  were  taken 
down  to  join  the  general  rendezvous  below. 

All  this  should  cease,  and  the  remains  of  the  dead  should  be 
consigned  to  Holy  Earth,  or  Holy  Fire,  and  disappear. 

2.    ESCHATOLOGY. 

The  Egyptian  "  Book  of  the  Dead "  reveals  to  us  the 
conceptions  of  that  Nation  of  life  beyond  the  grave.  Homer 
and  Virgil  conduct  the  reader  into  the  Elysian  Fields.  The 
Brahmanical  and  Buddhist  substitute  the  Doctrine  of  Trans- 


(       95       ) 

migration  of  Souls  in  an  endless  chain,  until  non-existence  is 
gained.  The  Red  Indian  expects,  that  his  dog  will  accompany 
him  to  another  world  ;  the  African  Chief  goes  to  the  grave, 
accompanied  by  slaughtered  wives  and  slaves,  who  will  make 
him  comfortable  in  his  new  abode  ;  so  also  was  it  with  Attila  and 
his  Huns.  The  Hebrews  alone  up  to  the  time  of  the  return 
from  Exile  had  no  consolation  for  the  woes  of  this  world  beyond 
the  grave :  the  hope  held  out  was,  that  their  days  might  be  long 
in  the  land  given  ;  and  even  up  to  Anno  Domini,  and  beyond, 
when  Paul  addressed  the  Sanhedrin,  the  question  of  a  Future 
State  was  allowed  to  remain  an  open  one.  If  IMoses  were 
learned  in  all  the  learning  of  the  Egyptians,  it  is  wonderful 
to  think,  that  he  was  not  acquainted  with  Egyptian  Eschatology ; 
had  he  been  so,  he  would  hardly  have  been  silent  on  the 
subject,  for  the  tribes  of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh  were 
descended  through  the  wife  of  Joseph  from  an  Egyptian 
Priest,  and  must  have  had  Egyptian  relatives,  and  heard  of 
the  Mummies,  the  Book  of  the  Dead,  and  the  popular  senti- 
ment, evidenced  by  the  Pyramids  and  the  Catacombs. 

I  quote  the  condensed  expression  of  an  esteemed  Author : 
We  cannot  hope  to  understand  the  dogma  of  the  Resurrection 
of  Christ  without  bearing  in  mind  the  theories  of  the  Jews, 
and  early  Christians,  concerning  the  structure  of  the  world,  and 
the  cosmic  localities  of  departed  souls.  Since  the  time  of 
Copernicus  modern  Christians  no  longer  attempt  to  locate 
Heaven  and  Hell  ;  they  are  conceived  of  merely  as  mysterious 
places  remote  from  the  earth.  The  theological  Universe  no 
longer  corresponds  to  that,  which  physical  Science  presents 
for  our  contemplation.  To  the  Jews  the  Universe  was  like  a 
sort  of  three-storied  house  :  the  flat  earth  rested  on  the  water, 
and  under  its  surface  was  Sheol,  where  the  souls  of  all  went, 
righteous  as  well  as  wicked ;  a  land  peopled  with  flitting 
shadows,  suffering  no  torment,  but  experiencing  no  pleasure. 
Sheol  is  the  first  story ;  the  earth  is  the  second ;  above  was  a 
firmament,  and  above  that  Heaven,  where  Jehovah  reigned. 
Two  only  of  the  Human  Race  had  been  admitted  to  the  third 
story.  Sheol  was  the  destined  abode  of  all  after  death  ;  all 
rewards  and  punishments  known  to  the  early  Hebrew  Writers 
before  the  Captivity  were  earthly.  According  to  the  new 
Doctrine,  the  Messiah  was  to  free  the  righteous  from  Sheol 
and  cause  them  to  ascend  in  new  bodies,  while  the  wicked 
were  to  be  punished :  this  doctrine  was  Pharisaic :  the 
Sadducees  rejected  it  to  the  last.  Paul  grasped  the  deep 
significance,  and  it  became  the  kernel  of  the  new  Idea;  some- 
thing more  than  a  mere  intellectual  assent  was  required  ;  there 
must  be  an  emotional  striving  after  righteousness,  a  developing 
conscience  of  God  in  the  soul,  a  subjugation  of  the  flesh  to  the 


(       96       ) 

Spirit.  It  was  to  this  new  Idea,  spiritually  set  forth,  that  the 
new  Religion  owed  in  great  part  its  rapid  success,  for  it  met  the 
requirements  both  of  Jew  and  Gentile.  When  Saul  made 
use  of  a  woman  with  a  familiar  spirit  to  bring  up  Samuel 
(I  Samuel,  xxviii,   15),  the  deceased  is  reported  to  have  said: 

"  Why    hast    thou    disquieted    me    to    bring    me    up .? 

to-morrow  shall  Ihou  and  Ihy  sons  be  wilh  me  "  :  he  meant  that, 
whether  good  or  bad,  all  men  went  to  Sheol.  More  than 
a  thousand  years  afterwards  Paul  wrote  as  follows :  "  If  there 
"  be  no  resurrection  of  the  dead,  then  is  Christ  not  risen  .... 
"  for  if  the  dead  rise  not,  then  is  not  Christ  raised  ....  then 
"  they  also  which  have  fallen  asleep  in  Christ  are  perished  ; 
"  if  in  this  life  only  we  have  hope  in  Christ,  we  are  of  all 
"  men  most  miserable"  (I  Corinthians,  xv,  13-19). 

The  comparison  of  the  sentiments  of  these  two  holy  men, 
Samuel  and  Paul,  who  spoke  according  to  Ideas  of  their  Epoch, 
indicate  the  vast  change,  which  had  taken  place  in  the  eschato- 
logical  conceptions. 

It  appears  to  some  (Dale :  North  American  Review,  April, 
1893),  that,  in  spite  of  all  the  alleged  physical  difficulties,  there 
must  be  a  future  state,  because  an  adequate  purpose  is  required 
for  the  Universe.  Of  what  good  is  all  the  beautiful  order,  if  it 
worked  out  nothing  but  death  ?  Besides,  Hope  is  an  essential 
to  mankind,  and  this  can  only  co-exist  when  Life,  not  Death,  is 
the  destiny  of  Man.  It  is  incredible,  that  the  lives  of  good 
men  should  utterly  perish,  and  that  so  much  suffering  should  be 
endured  by  those  who  deserve  it  not,  if  there  be  no  hereafter 
compensation  :  we  have,  however,  no  certain  knowledge ;  no 
one  ever  came  back  from  the  dead  to  tell  us,  nor,  if  they  had 
told  us,  should  we  understand,  for  our  knowledge  is  limited  to 
our  earthly  requirements  and  experiences.  It  is  impossible  to 
realize  what  union  with  God  hereafter  may  mean,  unless  we 
have  some  faint  Idea  of  what  is  union  with  Him  in  this  world. 
It  is  impossible  to  say  whether  personal  memory  of  things  of 
the  world,  of  beloved  ones,  will  survive  ;  those,  who  have  known 
God  best  here,  and  felt  His  reality  here,  will  find  Him  there 
also.  It  is  impossible  to  conceive  what  becomes  of  poor 
savages,  and  the  ignorant,  of  children  who  die  in  infancy,  of 
idols  and  lunatics  who  are  scarcely,  or  not  at  all,  conscious 
of  a  personal  identity,  for  after  all  the  evidence  must  be 
spiritual,  not  physical. 

In  common  conversation,  or  even  in  Religious  teaching,  there 
is  great  vagueness :  some  people  entrust  dying  people  with 
messages  to  their  loved  ones ;  some  believe,  that  the  dead 
are  still  cognizant  of  what  takes  place  on  earth ;  some 
enthusiasts  elevate  poor  dead  ones  to  the  rank  of  a  demi-god, 
and  invest  them  with  Spiritual  power.     The  Hebrew  Idea  of 


(      97      ) 

Sheol,  and  the  Grreco-Latin  Idea  of  Hades,  were  most  shadowy ; 
the  use  of  the  word  Hell,  for  instance,  in  the  Creed,  is  most 
unwarrantably  applied.  Poetry  has  taken  great  liberties :  take 
for  instance  Longfellow's  beautiful  poem  on  the  death  of  his 
daughter  ;  Dante's  three  great  poems  are  monuments  of  the 
strange  mediaeval  conceptions,  more  than  half  Pagan,  of 
the  future  State.  Such  books  as  "  Letters  from  Heaven,"  and 
"  Letters  from  Hell,"  and  many  other  attempts  to  lift  up  the 
curtain,  indicate  how  great  is  the  uncertainty  of  the  Human 
mind.  And  yet  the  subject  is  spoken  of  by  votaries  of  all 
Religions  with  certainty:  a  Brahmin  speaks  of  his  dead  friend 
as  baikunth-bash,  "dweller  in  Heaven"  ;  so  does  a  Mahometan 
as  bihisht-manzal ;  the  Church  of  Rome  imagines,  that  by  Masses 
and  prayers  it  can  modify,  and  improve,  the  position  of  a 
departed  Soul ;  the  sensational  Evangelical  talks  and  writes 
of  his  dear  one,  as  already  in  Heaven,  ignoring  the  caution 
of  Paul,  I  Thess.  iv,  13-15.  Such  poems  as  "Saints  in 
Paradise "  are  familiar  to  us  all. 

Once  in  India  in  my  office  some  papers  were  read  to  me 
in  one  of  the  Vernaculars  of  Northern  India.  I  remarked  on 
the  use  of  two  or  three  expressions,  to  imply  Death,  and  the 
following  day  one  of  the  officials  brought  me  a  list  of  between 
thirty  and  forty  terms  in  Persian,  Urdu,  and  Hindi,  for  expressing 
the  fact:  some  exceedingly  expressive,  some  needlessly  unkind 
to  the  dead.  Being  a  great  reader  of  Evangelical  periodicals 
and  books,  it  occurred  to  me  to  collect  the  terms  sentimental, 
emotional,  sensational,  used  to  record  the  death  of  Missionaries, 
or  others,  in  whom  friends  were  interested : 

1.  Entered  into  glory. 

2.  Called  home. 

3.  Went  to  see  the  King. 

4.  Went  no  more  out. 

5.  INIr.  Spurgeon  entered  Paradise  this  morning  at  4  p.m. 

(telegram). 

6.  ]My  Mother  is  in  Heaven. 

7.  The  Lord  took  him  home. 

8.  He  passed  to  see  the  King. 

9.  He  fell  asleep  in  Jesus. 

10.  He  was  called  up  higher. 

11.  He  was  called  to  higher  service. 

12.  Her  Spirit  fled. 

13.  She  passed  through  the  gate  into  the  city. 

14.  He  promised  to  follow  his  wife  to  Heaven. 

15.  She  rests  from  her  labours  till  the  day  dawns. 

16.  She  passed  away,  absent  from  the  body,  present  with 

the  Lord. 


(       98       ) 

1 7-  She  went  from  the  far  East  to  Paradise. 

1 8.  Gathered  home  from  the  Missionary  harvest. 

19.  Has  gone  to  be  with  Christ. 

20.  He  passed  away. 

21.  Her  Spirit  departed  like  a  child  falling  asleep. 

22.  The  departure  of  a  servant  of  Christ. 

23.  Is  with  the  Lord. 

24.  His  sun  has  set. 

25.  Entered  into  rest. 

26.  Started  on  his  journey. 

27.  Passed  across  the  borderland. 

28.  She  saw  the  Sun  set  on  the  other  side. 

29.  My  dead  husband  has  one  child  with  him  to  keep  him 

company. 

30.  All  those  have  long  been  in  Paradise. 

31.  God  called  him  home  to  a  better  country. 

32.  She  passed  from  death  unto  life. 

33.  Called  to  leave  the  great  harvest-field. 


Whatever  may  be  said  to  the  contrary,  the  doctrine  of  Rewards 
and  Punishments  in  a  future  state,  though  absolutely  ignored  by 
the  Hebrews,  appears  from  evidence  beyond  doubt,  to  have  been 
believed  by  the  Egyptian,  Hindu,  Zoroastrian,  Greek,  and  Roman : 
the  echo  of  the  same  strain  is  caught  up  elsewhere  :  the  oral 
legends  of  the  North  American  Indians,  and  of  the  Polynesian 
and  Melanesian  Islanders,  tell  the  same  story.  It  is,  indeed, 
part  of  the  Spiritual  outfit  of  the  Human  Race.  It  is  difficult, 
indeed,  to  arrive  at  the  standpoint,  whence  the  opposite  doctrine 
was  susceptible  of  argument,  for  it  has  been  well  said  that  "  it 
seems  to  be  the  spontaneous  outcome  of  the  Human  mind, 
when  brought  face  to  face  with  the  mystery  of  Death"  (Max 
Miiller:  Gifford-Lectures,  1892 — Theosophy,  p.  231). 

Travellers  and  Residents  among  barbarous  tribes  have 
systematically  inquired:  (i)  What  was  their  view  of  the  world 
of  Spirits.^  (2)  How  do  they  speak  of  the  Soul  after  separa- 
tion from  the  body  }  (3)  Where  does  the  Soul  go  to  after  death  } 
(4)  Do  Spirits  appear  on  earth,  where,  how,  and  by  what  name 
called.'^  (5)  Do  they  influence  the  lives  of  the  living  for  good, 
or  for  bad  ?  The  Idea  of  the  bliss  of  Heaven  varied  with  the 
climate,  customs,  and  habits,  of  each  Nation  :  the  Northerner 
looked  forward  to  unlimited  drinking  of  ale ;  the  Mahometan 
to  an  abundance  of  female  companions,  but  no  liquors.  Kong- 
Fu-Tsee  gives  no  explicit  utterance  on  the  state  of  man  after 
death  :  he  held  that,  though  disembodied,  he  somehow  or  other 
continued  to  live  on  (Legge's  Religion  of  China,  p.  112). 

The  transmigration  of  the  Soul  to  another  body  is  asserted  by 


(       99       ) 

a  great  many,  both  in  Asia  and  Europe.  (Rhys  Davids  :  Hibbert- 
Lectures,  pp.  75,  90  ;  Tyler's  Primitive  Culture,  vol.  ii.  pp.  4-1 1.) 
The  Idea  of  the  Hindu  may  be  gathered  from  the  following 
poetic  rendering  of  a  passage  of  the  Vishnu  Purana : 

Maitreya  (the  pupil). 

"  Parasura,  you've  told  me 

"All  that  I  wished  to  hear, 
"  How  out  of  chaos  sprung  this 

"  God-made  hemisphere. 

"  How  zone  on  zone,  and  sphere  on  sphere, 

"  In  ever-varying  forms 
"  The  wondrous  egg  of  Brahma 

"  With  living  creatures  swarms. 

"All  great  and  small,  all  small  and  great, 

"  On  their  own  acts  depend : 
"All  their  terrestrial  vanities 

"  In  punishment  must  end. 

"  Released  from  Yama  they  are  born 

"  As  men,  as  beasts,  again, 
"  And  thus  in  countless  circles  still 

"  Revolving  they  remain. 

"  Tell  me,  oh  !  tell  me,  what  I  ask, 

"  What  you  alone  can  tell : 
"  By  what  acts  only  mortal  men 

"  Can  free  themselves  from  Hell  ?  " 


Parasura  (the  teacher). 

"  Listen,  Maitreya,  best  of  men  : 
"  The  question  you  have  brought 

"  Was  once  by  royal  Nakula 
"  Of  ag-ed  Bhisma  sought. 


"  And  thus  the  hoary  sage  replied  : 
"  Listen,  my  Prince,  this  tale 

"  A  Brahman  guest  once  told  me 
"  From  far  Kalina:a's  vale. 


(       100       ) 

"  He  from  an  ancient  IMuni  too 
"  The  wondrous  secret  gained, 

"  In  whose  clear  mind  of  former  births 
"  The  memory  remained. 

"  Never  before  had  human  ear 
"  The  tale  mysterious  heard  : 

"  Such  as  it  was  I  tell  it  you, 
"  Repeating  word  for  word. 

"  As  from  the  coil  of  mortal  birth 

"  Released  the  ]\Iuni  lay, 
"  He  heard  the  awful  King  of  Death 

"  Thus  to  his  menials  say  : 

"  '  Touch  not  I  charge  thee,  anyone, 
"  '  Whom  Vishnu  has  let  loose ; 

"  '  On  ]Madhu-sudan's  followers 
"  '  Cast  not  the  fatal  noose. 

"  '  Brahma  appointed  me  to  rule 
"  '  Poor  erring  mortals'  fate, 

"  '  Of  evil  and  uncertain  good 
"  '  The  balance  regulate. 

"  '  But  he,  who  chooses  Vishnu 

"  '  As  spiritual  guide, 
*'  '  Slave  of  a  mightier  lord  than  me, 

"  '  Can  spurn  me  in  my  pride. 

"  'As  gold  is  of  one  substance  still, 
"  '  Assume  what  form  it  can, 

"  '  So  Vishnu  is  the  self-same  power, 
"  'As  Beast,  as  God,  or  Man. 

"  'And  as  the  drops  of  watery  spray, 
"  '  Raised  by  the  wind  on  high, 

"  '  Sink  slowly  down  again  to  earth, 
"  '  When  calm  pervades  the  sky, 

"  '  So  particles  of  source  divine 

"  '  Created  forms  contain  : 
"  '  When  that  disturbance  is  composed, 

"  '  They  reunite  again.' 


(       101       ) 


'  '  But  tell  us,  Master,'  they  replied, 
"  '  How  shall  thy  slaves  descry 

'  '  Those,  who  with  heart  and  soul  upon 
*'  '  The  mighty  Lord  rely  ?  ' 

'  '  O  !  they  are  those,  who  truly  love 
"  '  Their  neighbours,  them  you'll  know, 

'  '  Who  never  from  their  duty  swerve, 
"  '  And  would  not  hurt  their  foe. 

'  *  Whose  hearts  are  undefiled 

"  '  By  soil  of  Kali's  age, 
'  '  Who  let  not  others'  hoarded  wealth 

"  '  Their  envious  thoughts  engage. 

'  '  No  more  can  Vishnu  there  abide, 

"  '  Where  evil  passions  sway, 
*  '  Than  glowing  heat  of  fire  reside 

"  '  In  the  moon's  cooling  ray, 

'  '  But  those,  who  covet  others'  wealth, 
"  '  Whose  hearts  are  hard  in  sin, 

'  *  And  those,  whose  low  degraded  souls 
"  '  Pride  rampant  reigns  within  ; 

'  '  Whoever  with  the  wicked  sit, 

"  '  And  daily  frauds  prepare, 
'  '  Who  duties  to  their  friends  forget : 

"  '  Vishnu  has  nothing  there.' 

'  Such  were  the  orders,  that  the  King 

"  Of  Hell  his  servants  gave : 
'  For  Vishnu  his  true  followers 

"  From  death  itself  can  save." 


Banda,  Aug.  1853. 


(Robert  N.  Cust  : 
Poems  of  Many  Years  and  Places,  p.  86.) 


But  some  admit  a  future  state,  but  make  no  merrtion  of  future 
Rewards  and  Punishments.  On  the  Egyptian  monuments  we 
read,  that  Osiris  is  to  be  the  Judge  of  the  Quick  and  the  Dead 
at  the  time  of  the  Day  of  Account :  the  dead  are  brought  before 
the  Judge,  himself  clad  in  mummy-clothes,  as  having  himself 
risen  from  the  dead  ;    those,  who  are  acquitted,  are  united  to 


(       102       ) 

the  Lord,  and  become  one  with  Him.  We  are  not  much  nearer 
the  solution  of  the  riddle  of  Human  life  than  was  the  Egyptian  : 
he  laid  his  dear  ones  in  their  rocky  tomb  sixty  centuries  ago  with 
the  same  sorrow,  and  received  no  reply,  no  whisper  of  what 
happened  to  them  ;  he  looked  out  on  the  course  of  the  Sun, 
and  the  flow  of  the  great  River,  and  the  return  of  the  Seasons, 
and  we  gather  from  the  Inscriptions,  that  he  prayed  for  more 
light,  as  we  do  at  this  day. 

The  Egyptian  Idea  was  of  this  kind: 

INIan  was  composed  of  four  different  entities,  each  having  its 
separate  life  and  function  : 

(i)  The  body,  which  was  embalmed,  so  that  for  ages  it  would 
not  suffer  decomposition. 

(2)  The  "  ka,"  or  "double,"  was  saved  from  extinction  by 

prayer  and  offerings. 

(3)  The  "  bi,"  or  "  ba,"  or  Soul,  saved  in  the  same  way. 

(4)  The  "khoo,"  the  "lumm,"  a  spark  from  the  fire  down  in 

the  Soul. 

The  "ka"  never  left  the  place,  where  the  Mummy  reposed; 
the  "bi"  and  the  "khoo"  went  forth  to  follow  the  gods,  per- 
petually returning  like  travellers  to  their  home ;  the  mortal 
dwelling  was  only  a  wayside  inn  ;  the  tomb  was  the  eternal 
home,  and  was  built  solidly  to  meet  this  requirement ;  in  it 
was  the  room,  where  the  Mummy  was  ;  there  was  also  the 
private  room  of  the  Soul,  which  could  not  be  visited ;  and  the 
reception  room  of  the  "  ka,"  to  which  friends  brought  offerings  ; 
the  two  rooms  were  connected  by  a  passage. 

Hades,  in  Babylonian  legends,  is  a  gloomy  realm,  a  land  of 
forgetfulness,  and  darkness,  where  the  good  and  evil  deeds  are 
remembered  no  more  ;  its  occupants  are  mere  shadows  of  men, 
who  once  existed,  very  much  as  described  in  the  Poems  of 
Homer  and  Virgil,  except  that  there  were  Rewards  and  Punish- 
ments in  the  Graeco-Roman  conceptions,  which  were  undreamt 
of  by  the  Babylonians.  All  moral  responsibility  ended  with 
death  :  good  or  bad,  heroes  or  serfs,  were  all  condemned  to 
a  dreary  lot ;  the  Spirits  of  the  dead  flit  about  in  darkness  with 
dust  and  mud  for  their  food  and  drink.  (Sayce  :  Religion  of 
Babylonia,  p.  364.) 

iEschylus  has  no  hope  of  assured  happiness  beyond  the 
grave  ;  he  was  a  contemporary  of  the  Jews  of  the  Exile :  they 
had  none  either:  it  would  have  been  a  reply  to  Job's  questions, 
if  they  had  known  it :  but  to  them  the  fulness  of  life  was  on 
earth  :  there  might  be  unbroken  rest, 

eucop.e9  eo  jlIuXci  fiaKpov  aiep^iova  vr^'^jperov  vttuov, 


(       103       ) 

but    no    possible   joy.      Homer    describes    Achilles    saying   to 
Odysseus  in  the  Elysian  fields  : 

**  Scoff  not  at  death,  he  answered,  noble  Chief; 

"  Rather  would  I  in  the  Sun's  warmth  divine 
"  Serve,  a  poor  churl,  who  drags  his  days  in  grief, 

**  Than  the  whole  lordship  of  the  dead  were  mine." 

(Worsley's  Homer:   Od.,  XI,  488.) 

Centuries  later,  Virgil  takes  up  the  strain  : 

"  Quam  vellent  aethere  in  alto 
"  Nunc  et  pauperiem  et  diros  perferre  labores." 

{^neid,  VI,  436.) 

And  later  on  Shakespeare  echoes  the  thought : 

"  Ay,  but  to  die,  and  go  we  know  not  where  : 
"  To  lie  in  cold  obstruction,  and  to  rot; 
"  This  sensible  warm  motion  to  become 
"  A  kneaded  clod  ; 

"  To  be  imprison'd  in  the  viewless  winds, 

"  And  blown  with  restless  violence  round  about 

"  The  pendent  world." 

(Shakespeare:  Measure  for  Measure,  III,  sc.  i.) 

We  gather  from  Prescott's  volumes,  that  the  INIexicans  had  an 
Idea  of  Rewards  and  Punishments  after  death,     (p.  56). 

On  the  pictures  on  the  walls  of  Hindu  temples  we  have 
distinct  information  of  the  current  Ideas  of  after-death  Rewards 
and  Punishments.  In  the  life  of  Baba  Nanak,  who  lived  in  the 
sixteenth  century  of  the  Christian  era,  and  founded  the  great 
Sikh  Sect  of  the  Brahmanical  Religion,  we  read  how  pious  men 
were  being  carried  to  Heaven  in  palanquins,  while  wicked  men 
were  stripped  naked,  and  driven  with  blows  into  Hell.  He  adds 
this  striking  circumstance  :  A  looker-on  saw  a  sinner  being  taken 
in  this  way  to  Hell ;  half  an-hour  later  he  recognised  the  same 
man  being  brought  back  in  a  palanquin  towards  Heaven.  How 
did  it  happen  }  As  they  went  along,  they  passed  over  a  spot, 
where  Nanak  had  rested,  and  the  mighty  change  took  place. 
In  Plato's  Republic,  Gorgias,  and  Phsedo,  we  have  the  fact 
distinctly  stated,  that  men  go  after  death  to  the  Isles  of  the 
Blessed,  or  Tartarus,  according  to  the  lives  led  by  them.  The 
three  Judges  sit  at  the  point,  where  the  road  divides  :  the  Soul 
becomes  tainted  by  the  evil  conduct  of  the  body :  some  punish- 


(       104       ) 

ments  are  remedial,  consisting  of  a  few  stripes ;  some  are 
exemplary,  so  as  to  warn  others  ;  there  are  some,  who  cannot 
hope  for  forgiveness  in  this  world  or  the  next.  Some  are  saved 
by  the  intercession  of  a  Saviour,  such  as  Vishnu,  the  merits  of 
a  Saint,  like  Nanak,  as  already  described.  However  narrow  was 
Plato's  knowledge  of  the  physical  world,  and  contemptible 
compared  to  our  knowledge  was  his  acquaintance  with 
Geography,  History,  and  Ethnography,  yet  he  had  in  him 
the  inspiration  of  a  Divine  Life,  and  bowed  humbly  in  the 
presence,  the  immanence,  of  a  perfectly  wise,  and  perfectly 
holy  God,  and  never  let  go  the  unflinching  conception  of 
Human  responsibility:  there  was  more  Christianity  in  him 
than  in  many  nominal  Christians,  accurate  and  precise  in 
dogma,   but  devoid  of  the  perception  of  Divine  things. 

"  There  are  no  traces  of  scenes  of  future  happiness,  or 
"  misery,  or  of  Judgment,  on  early  Greek  funeral  sculptures ;  all 
"  that  we  see  is  the  farewell  of  the  traveller,  who  is  bound  for 
"  some  unknown  realm :  the  hand  is  laid  on  the  shoulder  of 
"  the  beloved  one  in  the  moment  of  parting ;  the  future  finds 
"  no  place  in  the  Inscription  ;  the  world  to  come  is  out  of  sight 
"  as  too  visionary,  when  men  come  to  deal  with  business  such 
•'  as  death."     (Westcott's  Religion  in  the  West,  p.  136.) 

In  the  Nineteenth  Century,  1891,  October,  Mr.  Gladstone 
propounds  two  questions,  worthy  of  earnest  consideration  : 

(i)  Was  the  knowledge  of  a  future  state  evolved  by  man 
subjectively  from  his  own  thoughts,  or  was  it  dimly  imported  ? 

(2)  Did  the  knowledge  progressively  increase  along  with  the 
general  growth  of  intelligence,  or  did  it  on  the  contrary  decline  ? 

He  lays  aside  for  the  time  the  first  question,  and  considers 
the  second : 

(A)  Enoch  walked  with  God,  for  God  took  him  :  does  not 
this  show,  that  life  in  an  unseen  world  was  a  conception 
accepted  by  the  writer  ?  But  when  was  it  written  ?  After  the 
Exile  or  before  ? 

(B)  Elijah  was  corporally  translated  somewhere. 

(C)  The  witch  called  up  Samuel :  where  did  he  come  from  ? 
It  is  clear  that  the  Hebrews  did  not  believe  in  the  extinction 

of  the  Soul,  or  even  the  body,  at  death. 

There  can  be  no  question,  that  in  the  Middle  Ages  the  con- 
ception of  a  Day  of  Judgment,  and  Rewards  and  Punishments, 
was  a  strong  weapon  in  the  hands  of  unscrupulous  priests,  and 
that  the  necessity  of  making  large  donations  to  the  Church  was 
pressed  upon  persons  of  property  in  the  hour  of  their  departure. 
Even  in  modern  times  I  read  that  to  some  it  seems  hard  to 
believe  that  rich  men,  who  leave  nothing  to  the  Church,  and 
the  poor,  and  the  suffering,  are  genuine  believers  in  a  future 
state  of  Rewards  and  Punishments. 


(       105       ) 

Let  us  ponder  over  the  Emperor  Adrian's  dying  words  to  his 
Soul : 

"•  Animula  vagula  blandula, 
"  Hospes  comesque  corporis, 

"  Quos  nunc  abibis  in  locos  ? 
"  Pallidula,  rigida,  nudula, 
"  Nee  ut  ante  dabis  jocos  ?" 

Let  us  now  reflect  upon  the  view  taken  of  Life,  as  a  term  of 
years  preceding  Death.  As  our  acquaintance  with  the  private 
history  of  mankind  in  ancient  days  increases,  many  of  our 
previous  notions  take  wing  and  flee  away,  and  it  is  well,  that 
they  should  go.  Contemporaries,  and  even  predecessors,  of 
Abraham  lived  holy  lives,  or  at  least  there  was  a  standard  for 
them  to  live  up  to  of  holy  life.  Let  us  read,  and  read  with 
humility,  the  inscription  recorded  on  the  tomb  of  Ameru,  the 
rock  tomb  of  Beni  Hassan  on  the  Nile  :  its  date  is  placed  at 
2500  B.C.:  we  dare  not  affirm,  that  he  lived  up  to  the  standard 
of  goodness  described,  any  more  than  we  can  of  those,  who 
lie  under  Monuments  in  Westminster  Abbey  :  no  doubt  their 
survivors  flattered  them :  be  it  so :  from  that  flattery  we  gather 
what  the  ideal  was  of  contemporary  goodness  : 

(i)  He  was  justified,  weighed  in  the  scales  of  Osiris,  and 
cleared  at  the  great  tribunal,  an  indication  of  the  need  of 
righteousness,  wherewith  to  appear  before  God. 

(2)  He  never  wronged  any  poor  man :  let  us  contrast  the 
words  of  Isaiah,  "  The  Lord  looked  for  judgment,  but  behold 
oppression  "  (v,  7). 

(3)  He  never  oppressed  a  widow. 

There  was  not  a  poor  man  ever  seen,  and  no  one  was 
hungry :  in  time  of  famine  he  made  the  people  to  live  by 
making  provision  :  he  gave  to  each  widow  the  property  of  her 
husband :  in  great  rises  of  the  Nile,  bringing  prosperity,  he 
did  not  exact  arrears  of  rent. 

If  we  examine  the  books  of  the  Hebrew  Prophets,  we  find, 
that  the  Princes  and  Nobles  of  Jerusalem  and  judasa  did  just 
the  contrary  down  to  the  very  time  of  the  Exile. 

What  shall  be  said  of  the  words  of  a  modern  divine  ?  "  I 
"  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  him,  for  he  has  passed  to  the 
"  bar  of  his  Sovereign- Judge.  I  humbly  trust  that  the 
"  Sovereign-Judge  has  reserved  to  Himself  the  right  to  make 
"  allowances  :  I  have  no  power  to  make  reservations  :  Ife  that 
"  believeth  not,  shall  be  damned^     (Canon  Sadler,  p.  32.) 

What,  again,  is  the  view  taken  of  death  }  Did  they  consider 
it  a  punishment,  or  a  release  from  labour,  or  a  reward  }  We 
can  find  passages  supporting  all  these  views.  The  Idea  of 
death   being  a   punishment   is  very  forcible  ;    we  find  such  a 


(       106       ) 

phrase  as  "  God  slew  him,"  and  frightful  exterminating 
passages  in  all  the  Sacred  Books.  An  Indian  historian  of 
even  this  century  would  think  it  good  style  to  describe  all  the 
slain  on  the  side  of  the  party,  whom  he  favoured,  as  "  going  to 
Heaven,"  and  the  slain  of  the  other  side,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
"  going  to  hell."  I  have  read  these  phrases  in  the  descriptions 
of  battles  fought  in  the  beginning  of  this  century. 

The  Idea  of  release  from  labour  comes  out  in  the  oft -repeated 
phrase,  "he  fell  asleep"  (e/co^/tvyS/y),  "He  giveth  His  beloved 
sleep." 

"  ou  r^ap  Oeoi  (f)l\ovaiv  cnroO'^ijcrKei  vev9, 

"  felix  oppurtunitate  mortis " :  how  many  live  too  long  for 
happiness  ! 

The  echo  has  been  caught  up  by  modern  poets: 

"  No  pain,  no  passionate  grief, 

"  No  anger  burning  hot, 
"  Will  vex  her  quiet  spirit  more : 

"  She's  gone  unto  that  silent  shore, 
"  Where  grief  is  not." 

"  Take  me,  oh  !  take  me,  while  my  life  is  glory  ; 

"  Ere  I  be  weary,  take  me  to  my  rest ; 
"  Ere  love  be  feeble,  or  my  locks  be  hoary, 

"  E'en  in  my  beauty  take  me  to  be  blest. 

"  Leave  me  not,  leave  me  not  in  this  world  of  sadness, 
"  When  the  friends  of  my  youth  are  gone  to  their  doom : 

"  Take  me,  oh  !  take  me,  while  still  in  youth's  gladness, 
"  Into  Thy  garden  there  for  ever  to  bloom." 

Men  shrunk  from  Death  as  beyond  their  experience  : 

"  Men  long  to  look  upon  the  coming  day 
"  Bearing  a  burden  of  unnumbered  woes, 
"  So  deep  in  mortals  lies  the  love  of  life ; 
"  For  life  we  know,  but  ignorant  of  death 
"  Each  fears  alike  to  leave  the  Sun's  dear  light." 

Euripides  :  fragment  of  P/icenix,  813. 

(Westcott  :  Religious  Life  in  the   West,  p.   124.) 

The    Nirvana   of  the    Buddhist   is   not   the    annihilation    of 
death,  as  the  Saint  may  live  on  after  having  obtained  it ;  it  is 


(     lov     ) 

rather  the  extinction  of  that  sinful  grasping  condition  of  mind 
and  heart,  which  is  the  root  of  all  evil,  and  cause  of  all  pain 
and  sorrow.  Paul  seems  to  have  realized  the  idea  :  "  To  me  to 
live  is  Christ." 

Euripides,  Cresp,  p.  452,  strikes  another  note: 

"  It  were  well  that  men,  in  solemn  conclave  met, 
"  Should  mourn  each  birth,  as  prelude  to  great  woes, 
"  And  bear  the  dead  forth  from  their  home  with  joy 
"  And  thanksgiving,  as  free  at  last  from  toils." 

(Westcott  :  Religious  Life  in  the   West,  p.   123.) 
Euripides  again  writes  in  a  sad  strain  : 

"  Tfs  c'oicev,  el  to  ^tjif  jxev  icTi  icaj9ave7v' 
TO  KOTOaveiv  ce  ^ijvi" 

It  is  difficult  to  discover  the  motive  of  the  Court-practices  in 
modern  days  on  the  death  of  a  great  person. 

Paris,  November  z,  1894. 
"A  special  Cabinet  Council  was  held  this  morning  at  the 
"  Elysee,   at  which   it  was  decided,  that  the  President  of  the 
"  Republic  and  the  jNIinisters  should  attend  the  funeral  service 
"  for  the  repose  of  the  Soul  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia." 

Novetnber  \,  1894. 
"  Late  last  night  The  Official  Gazette  published  the  Imperial 
manifesto  announcing  the  entry  of  Princess  Alix  into  the 
Orthodox  Church  as  follows  :  '  The  bride  of  our  choice  has 
'  to-day  been  anointed  with  the  holy  chrism,  and  has  accepted 
'  our  Orthodox  faith  under  the  name  of  Alexandra,  to  the 
'  great  comfort  of  ourselves  and  all  Russia. 
"  '  After  the  painful  trial,  imposed  upon  us  by  the  inscrutable 
'  will  of  God,  we  believe,  together  with  our  people,  that  the 
'  Soul  of  our  well-beloved  {■aX\\Q.x  from  its  celestial  abode,  has  sent 

*  down  a  blessing  upon  the  choice  of  his  heart  and  of  our 
'  own  for  consenting  to  share  in  a  faithful  and  loving  spirit 
'  our  incessant  solicitude  for  the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  our 

*  Fatherland. 

"  '  All  our  loyal  subjects  will  join  with  us  in  imploring  God's 
'  blessing  upon  our  destiny,  and  that  of  the  people  confided  to 
'  our  care. 

"  '  In  announcing  this  much-wished-for  event  to  all  our 
'  faithful  subjects,  we  command,  that  henceforth  our  august 
'  betrothed   Princess  Alix  be   called    by  the  name  and  title 


(       108       ) 

"  '  of  Her   Imperial   Highness  the   Orthodox   Grand  Duchess 
"  '  Alexandra  Feodorovna.     Given  at  Livadia,  November  2.'  " 

Moreover,  Protestants,  Mahometans,  Pagans  from  China  and 
Japan,  all  in  full  diplomatic  uniform,  attended  these  services  : 
we  seem  transported  back  to  the  time  of  Trajan  and  Marcus 
Aurelius. 

The  funeral  ceremonies  of  the  deposed  and  discredited 
Khedive  present  another  variety ;  at  any  rate,  Ismail  Pasha 
is  not  described  as  looking  down  from  his  Mahometan  Paradise  : 
"  The  procession  itself  presented  the  same  contrasts,  the  same 
"  curious  jumble  of  Eastern  and  Western  life.  Its  very 
"  composition  reflected  all  the  anomalies  of  modern  Egypt. 
"  Behind  detachments  of  mounted  police  and  Egyptian  cavalry 
"  came  the  Sirdar  and  staff  of  the  Egyptian  Army,  unmistakably 
"  English  in  spite  of  their  Egyptian  uniforms.  Immediately 
"  behind  them  walked  readers  of  the  Koriin,  reciting  the  sacred 
"■  verses  in  a  high  nasal  chant,  deputations  from  the  native 
"  Guilds  and  Corporations  bearing  flags  and  banners  em- 
"  broidered  with  sacred  devices,  descendants  of  the  Prophet  in 
"  green  turbans  and  flowing  robes,  mollahs  and  ulema  in  long 
•'  kaftans,  dervishes  in  tall  felt  caps,  students  from  El-azhar ; 
"  in  fact,  the  militant  and  uncompromising  Islam  in  all  its  old- 
"  world  picturesqueness.  Then,  in  sharp  contrast  to  the 
"  mediaeval  scholasticism  of  the  great  Mahometan  University, 
"  came  hundreds  of  black-coated  youths  from  the  modern 
"  schools  and  colleges,  with  their  European  masters.  Behind 
"  them  again,  in  curious  alternation,  native  and  European 
"  notables,  Judges  from  the  Native  and  Mixed  Tribunals,  gold- 
"  laced  pashas  and  beys,  English  Government  officials  in  plain 
"  Stambouline,  long-robed  clergy  of  the  diff"erent  Christian 
"  denominations  and  Rabbis  of  the  Jewish  community,  red- 
"  coated  officers  of  the  British  Army  of  occupation,  the 
"  Diplomatic  Corps  in  full  uniform,  the  Ministers  and  English 
"  Advisers  for  Finance,  Justice,  and  the  Interior,  and  the 
"  Imperial  Ottoman  Commissioner,  the  Khedive,  followed  by 
"  all  the  male  members  of  his  family.  Behind  the  chief 
"  mourners  and  the  household  of  the  deceased  Khedive  a 
"  double  row  of  youths  sprinkled  perfumes  and  burned  incense 
"  in  front  of  the  coffin.  Covered  with  an  embroidered  pall,  on 
"  which  were  displayed  the  uniform  and  decorations  of  the 
"  deceased,  the  mortal  remains  of  Ismail  were  borne  on  the 
"  shoulders  of  20  men  from  the  Khedivial  body-guard,  hard 
"  pressed  by  a  weird  crowd  of  hired  female  mourners,  who  rent 
"  the  air  with  their  shrieks  of  woe.  Another  body  of  troops, 
"  with  arms  reversed,  closed  the  strange  pageant. 

"  The  ladies  of  the  ex-Khedive's  harem,  who,  to  the  number 
"  of  some  800,  have  been  holding  funeral-wakes  for  the  past 


(       109       ) 

*'  week  at  the  Kasr-el-Nil  Palace,  had  expressed  their  intention 
"  of  following  barefooted  the  remains  of  their  former  lord  and 
•'  master,  but  orders  from  the  Palace  ultimately  forbade  such  a 
"  public  manifestation  of  their  grief." 

3.  Mutilation  or  Disfigurement  of  Body, 

Circumcision  is  one  of  the  oldest,  most  wide-spread,  and 
extraordinary,  conditions  precedent  of  Religious  convictions  :  it 
is  scarcely  credible,  that  any  educated  Christian  European  could 
have  accepted  "ex  animo  "  the  Jewish  persuasion,  or  Islam,  so 
it  is  impossible  to  find  out,  whether  such  a  one  in  the 
Nineteenth  Century,  under  Religious  influences,  submitted  to 
such  a  disgusting  initiatory  rite.  It  was  practised  in  Egypt, 
but  chiefly  among  the  Priests.  It  prevails  among  the  barbarous 
tribes  of  Africa,  quite  independent  of  Islam.  It  seems  beyond 
hope,  that  this  old-world,  and  degraded,  mutilating  of  the  body, 
will  die  out.  Extracting  the  teeth,  boring  the  ears,  painting  and 
tattooing  the  body,  passing  rings  through  the  nose,  painting  caste- 
marks  on  the  forehead,  shaving  off  the  hair,  placing  the  limbs 
in  a  position  of  torture  by  way  of  penance :  all  such  practices, 
based  on  Religion,  must,  and  will,  have  their  way  out,  and  die : 
one  of  the  not  sufficiently  recognised  merits  of  Christianity, 
as  a  Human  association  is,  that  the  sacred  body  is  entirely  set 
free  from  disfigurement  in  the  name  of  Religion ;  and  no  dis- 
qualification on  account  of  blemish  or  infirmity  is  admitted. 
The  Hindu  married  woman  still  pierces  her  nose  to  hold  the 
marriage  ring  ;  some  foolish  women  in  Europe,  and  even  men, 
still  pass  rings  through  the  lobe  of  their  ears,  and  deem  it  a 
decoration.  These  are  only  bad  survivals,  and  in  no  way 
connected  with  Religion. 

Paul  the  Apostle  boldly  got  rid  of  circumcision,  not  only  of 
Gentile  converts,  but  of  the  reputed  children  of  Abraham. 
None  of  the  great  Races  of  Eastern  Asia  would  have  submitted 
to  this  degraded  ceremonial.  It  does  not  appear,  that  Abraham 
brought  it  from  Mesopotamia,  but  introduced  it  when  he  was  in 
Canaan :  that  it  should  have  been  tolerated  in  the  Mosaic  code 
is  remarkable,  when  we  read,  Leviticus,  xix,  28,  the  law  forbidding 
the  cutting  of  the  flesh  for  the  dead,  or  putting  any  marks  on 
the  body  ;  that  the  Egyptians  practised  it,  is  evidenced  beyond 
doubt  by  examination  of  statues,  which  have  been  found.  A 
Clergyman  in  my  presence  justified  it,  as  being  the  command 
of  God  :  if  so,  how  did  Paul  find  himself  justified  by  his  own 
authority  to  abrogate  it :  on  one  occasion  John  (Gospel,  vii, 
22,  23)  alludes  to  it  in  a  marked  manner,  and  not  only  all 
proselytes  to  the  Jewish  faith  were  circumcised,  but  during  the 


(       110       ) 

century  preceding  Anno  Domini  the  Jews  had  forcibly  circum- 
cised members  of  the  neighbouring  tribes,  which  had  fallen 
into  their  power. 

4.  Strange  and  Abominable  Customs. 

The  annals  of  every  country  teem  with  customs,  such  as 
burning  widows,  killing  female  children,  burying  alive  lepers, 
of  which  three  customs  I  am  personally  cognizant,  and  to  which 
I  helped  to  put  a  stop  in  1846  in  North  India ;  also  passing  sons 
through  the  fire,  as  INIanasseh,  King  of  Judah,  did;  killing  twins, 
a  custom  still  frequent  in  West  Africa ;  burying  alive  unhappy 
wives  and  slaves  of  deceased  men,  to  accompany  them  to  the 
next  world,  still  practised  in  Africa ;  burying  men  alive  under 
the  four  corners  of  a  new  palace,  as  was  the  practice  of  King 
Thebau  in  Burma;  castrating  boys  to  supply  the  service  of 
Eunuchs,  which  apparently  was  practised  by  the  Hebrews  in 
the  time  of  King  Josiah  ;  Slave-hunting,  Slave-dealing,  Slavery 
with  all  its  horrors  ;  gladiators'  shows,  bull-fights,  cock-fights. 
No  Religion,  not  even  the  Christian,  seems  to  have  been  free 
from  some  or  other  of  these  disgraces  and  degradations  of  the 
Human  Race,  and  many  were  done  under  the  influence  of 
Religion,  and  with  the  encouragement  of  the  Priests;  for  in- 
stance, the  Koptic  Priests  still  do  all  the  work  of  castration  of 
Eunuchs  in  Egypt.  I  have  before  me  a  Spanish  notice,  that 
a  rich  widow  in  Andalusia  offered  some  bulls  of  her  own 
breeding  for  the  bull-fight,  "  come  un'  ovra  piedosa,"  "  as 
a  pious  offering." 

Other  abominable  customs  I  pass  over  in  silence. 

One  would  have  supposed,  that  the  killing  of  all  female 
children  would  not  have  been  tolerated  by  the  wealthy,  educated, 
and  so-called  pious;  but  it  was  precisely  this  class  that  did  it. 
I  reasoned  in  1846  with  a  venerable  old  Priest,  a  descendant 
of  Baba  Nanak,  the  Reformer,  on  the  enormity  of  female  infanti- 
cide ;  his  answer  was,  that  the  terms  daughter,  sister,  aunt,  had 
never  been  known  in  their  sacred  families  ;  when  I  pleaded  for 
the  lepers,  I  was  told  that  they  were  used  to  it.  Even  now  the 
Government  of  India  are  striving  to  introduce  the  notion  of 
Matrimony  into  certain  classes  of  Southern  India,  as  for  the 
convenience  of  the  Priesthood  all  the  women  have  been  deemed 
common  property,  and  the  child  of  the  Sister  succeeds  to 
property,  as  no  man  can  have  a  legitimate  child  of  his  own  ; 
and  Religion  is  put  forward  as  the  motive  of  this  abominable 
custom. 

A  kind  of  Nemesis  has  followed  the  benevolent  attempts  of 
the  Anglo-Indian  officials  half  a   century  ago.      The    Census 


(   111    ) 

reports  twenty-two  Millions  of  widows,  and  a  vast  number  of 
unmarried  females,  a  thing  unknown  in  former  years,  and  a 
great  misfortune  in  an  Indian  family,  and  a  perfect  invasion  of 
armies  of  lepers. 

Another  strange  custom  is  that  of  males  and  females  moving 
about  in  perfect  nakedness.  In  Africa  that  is  an  ordinary 
feature.  A  Missionary  reported  the  extreme  discomposure 
caused  to  him  by  having  to  preach  to  a  congregation  of  adults, 
male  and  female,  standing  round  him  entirely  nude.  In  British 
India  there  was  one  tribe,  the  Juang,  in  which  the  women 
refused  to  wear  clothing  from  a  superstitious  feeling,  that  the 
tigers  would  destroy  them,  if  they  did.  A  large  supply  of 
clothes  was  made  by  the  Government,  and  engagements  taken 
from  the  men,  that  the  women  should  wear  them. 


(       112       ) 


CAP.  V.     RECORDS  OF  PAST  GENERATIONS. 


1.  Written. 

A.  Necessity  for  Higher  Criticism. 

B.  Connection  between  Language  and  Religion. 

C.  Advantages  derived  from  perusal  of  Sacred  Books. 

D.  Description  of  Sacred  Books. 

E.  Was  there  a  Divine  Afflatus  ? 

F.  Blemishes  in  literary  style  of  the  Books. 

2.  Oral  :   Tradition. 

I.  Written. 

In  the  Religions  of  barbarous  tribes  there  is  no  record  of  the 
past  beyond  the  uncertain  recollection  of  a  totally  illiterate, 
and  uncultured,  community:  this  is  called  Tradition,  or  Legends. 
In  all  the  great  Religions  there  exists  a  considerable,  important, 
and  interesting,  literature:  documents  written  contemporaneously, 
or  committed  to  writing  after  several  generations  of  oral  trans- 
mission, are  found  in  a  dead,  and  imperfectly-known.  Language, 
and  a  Written  Character  difficult  to  read,  quite  distinct  from  the 
vernacular  of  the  people:  the  narrative  is  in  a  style  of  ex- 
ceeding exaggeration,  interspersed  with  expressions  of  great 
coarseness,  and  stories  quite  incredible  to  an  age  when  people 
think.  The  mode  of  transmission  of  such  a  literature  has  been 
threefold : 

(i)  By  an  effort  of  memory  of  succeeding  generations  of 
Bards. 

(2)  By  Inscriptions  on  rocks,  stone  tablets,  papyri,  or  clay 
bricks,  which  have  survived  to  the  present  date. 

(3)  By  copies  of  copies  of  copies,  versions  of  versions, 
translations  of  translations,  the  documents  themselves  being 
imperfect  and  mutilated,  and  generally  violated  by  a  succession 
of  copyists,  editors,  interpreters,  or  bona-fide  falsifyers.  We 
are  uncertain  whether  we  have  lost  portions,  or  what  portions 
ought  to  be  excluded  from,  or  included  in,  the  recognised 
volume,  or  whether  they  are  in  the  right  order  of  sequence. 

The  works  of  Plato,  as  a  fact  (b.c.  347),  older  than  the  Greek 


(       113       ) 

Septuagint,  have  reached  us  in  a  most  perfect  condition  :  the 
text  must  have  been  reverently  watched  from  the  first 
(Davis's  Republic  of  Plato,  1890,  Preface).  In  many  other 
cases  the  Records  have  come  down  in  a  fragmentary  state ;  there 
was  a  prejudice  among  the  custodians  of  such  literature  against 
translating  them  into  a  modern  vernacular,  with  the  exception  of 
the  Jewish  Records,  which  were  translated  into  Greek,  and 
Aramaic,  and  a  portion  into  the  Samaritan ;  similarly  the  Avesta 
Records  were  translated  into  Pahlavi. 

A  century  ago  the  Old  Testament  stood  out  as  the  only 
representative  of  the  pre-Hellenic  period.  When  men  read  it, 
they  seemed  to  lay  aside  all  links  of  habit,  all  canons  of 
criticism,  all  conceptions  of  probability;  the  existence  of  the 
relations  of  the  Deity  with  man  was  presumed  to  have  been 
totally  different  from  that  of  modern  times.  Moreover,  the 
atmosphere,  which  surrounds  the  Old  Testament,  is  totally 
different  from  that  of  the  New  Testament.  Paul  writes  in  a 
style,  which  might  be  equalled,  but  could  not  be  surpassed, 
in  later  ages.  Now  Egypt,  Assyria,  Babylonia,  Persia,  India, 
China,  Japan,  have  leapt  into  a  new  existence,  and  present 
phenomena  analogous  to  those  of  the  Old  Testament.  The 
Religious  conceptions  of  the  elder  world  represent  the  com- 
munion of  man  with  a  Deity  bearing  a  particular  name.  Portions 
of  the  Records  of  India,  China,  and  Persia,  have  survived  in 
their  original  form  ;  the  Monumental  Inscriptions  of  the  others 
are  accessible. 

Great  liberty  is  taken  with  the  awful  person  of  the  Deity  in 
all  these  Records  :  in  the  childhood  of  mankind  there  appears 
to  have  been  no  respect  for  accuracy,  or  probability.  Words 
are  placed  in  the  mouth  of  the  Deity  in  the  Veda,  and  in  the 
Avesta :  it  was  the  form  of  literary  expression,  which  ancient 
men  were  audacious  enough  to  adopt :  they  conceived  an  Idea, 
no  doubt  in  a  reverent  spirit,  and  then  placed  it  in  the  mouth 
of  the  great  Ruler  of  the  Universe.  In  Jeremiah,  xl,  i,  the 
usual  formula  is  given :  "  The  word  that  came  to  Jeremiah  "  ; 
but  the  whole  chapter  is  mere  History  :  the  Speaker's 
Commentary  is  obliged  to  suggest,  that  History  of  the  Past  was 
inspired,  as  well  as  Predictions  of  the  Future.  Every  verse  of  the 
Achemenian  Tablets  at  Behistun  begins  :  "Darius  said."  These 
Records  give  conversations,  as  if  there  were  reporters  standing 
with  pencil  in  the  hand  behind  the  curtain,  though  the  context 
shows,  that  no  third  person  was  present,  and  those,  who  were 
present,  could  not  write  :  the  actual  words  are  given,  but  not 
in  the  Language  of  the  speaker,  but  of  the  Chronicler.  The 
Chronicler,  who  compiled  the  Book  of  Samuel  centuries  after 
the  death  of  Samuel,  describes  Samuel  as  in  constant  com- 
munication with  the  Deity  about  the  choice  of  a  king  of  the 


(   IH   ) 

Hebrew  Nation  :  he  does  not  tell  us  in  what  form  it  was  made, 
whether  by  words  or  suggested  thoughts.  In  the  Epic  Poem 
ot  the  Hindu  we  are  invited  to  a  discussion  in  Heaven  betwixt 
the  Deities  on  the  subject  of  sending  an  Incarnation  in  the 
person  of  Rama  to  save  the  world  ;  very  much  in  the  style 
adopted  by  Milton  in  "Paradise  Lost,"  with  this  difference,  that 
the  utterances  of  Milton  are  accepted  as  Poetry,  those  of  the 
ancient  Chroniclers  were  deemed  to  be  absolute  Truth.  This 
leads  us  to  reflect  on  how  far  the  alleged  Inspiration  extends 
to  the  subject  of  the  Narrative,  or  to  the  literary  form.  One 
thing  is  clear,  that  in  such  ancient  carefully-treasured  Records 
we  read  perhaps  only  one,  perhaps  only  two,  syllables  of  the 
great  Word,  which  the  Deity  in  divers  Languages,  far  distant 
climes,  at  different  Epochs,  has  allowed  to  be  uttered,  and  to 
survive,  when  temple  and  tower  went  to  the  ground.  A  recent 
writer  remarks  with  truth,  and  I  quote  his  words,  though  many 
will  not  agree  with  him,  as  they  run  counter  to  deep-rooted 
prejudices,  and  a  general  feeling,  that  the  Creator  does  not  care 
equally  for  all  His  poor  creatures  : 

"  When  we  read  the  utterances  of  the  Sacred  Books  of  the 
"  East  we  learn,  that  no  Human  Soul  was  ever  quite  forgotten, 
"  and  that  there  are  no  clouds  of  Superstition,  through  which 
"  the  ray  of  Eternal  Truth  cannot  pierce  :  they  reveal  the  fact, 
"  that  God  has  not  forsaken  any  of  His  children,  if  only  they 
"  feel  after  Him,  if  haply  they  may  find  Him."  (Gifford- 
Lectures,  1893,  Theosophy,  p.  23.) 

It  is  clear  that  the  Assyrian  emissary  Rabshakeh  considered, 
that  he  also  was  Heaven-directed  in  his  expressions :  whether 
he  was  so  in  reality,  is  not  the  question  :  he  thought  that  he 
was  so,  and  speaks  thus  :  "  Am  I  now  come  up  without  the 
Lord  against  this  place  to  destroy  it  }  The  Lord  said  to  me,  Go 
up  against  this  land,  and  destroy  it"  (II  Kings,  xviii,  25).  No 
doubt  the  Hebrews  would  say,  that  he  was  deceived  by  a  false 
Prophet,  and,  when  the  Hebrews  asserted,  that  their  Prophet 
spoke  the  truth,  he  doubted  it,  and  returned  the  compliment  of 
the  Hebrew  Prophet  being  false. 

The  subject  is  so  large  that  I  must  subdivide  it,  and  treat 
each  subdivision  separately.  No  one,  who  has  not  examined  the 
parchment  Synagogue-Rolls,  now  collected  in  the  Museum 
of  St.  Petersburg,  or  Indian  Manuscripts  on  slips  of  the 
Talipat  leaf,  can  realize  the  difficulty,  which  surrounded 
literary  work  in  ancient  days.  They  were  written  for  the 
most  part  in  one  continuous  line,  with  no  separation  of  words, 
or  sentences.  In  Sanskrit  there  was  something  worse,  for  by  the 
law  of  Euphony  the  last  letter  of  one  word  coalesced  with  the 
first  letter  of  the  next  word :  there  was  no  punctuation,  no 
division  of  verses,  sections,  or  chapters,  no  facilities  for  marginal 


(       115       ) 

references,  or  indices  :  if  a  Commentary  existed,  it  seemed  to 
malce  the  matter  worse  by  its  bulkiness,  and  it  being  written 
in  the  same  manner:  a  second  elephant  was  tied  to  the  tirst. 
Consider  the  Written  Characters :  the  Hebrews  changed  theirs 
to  the  well-known  Square  Character  about  a  century  before 
Anno  Domini ;  the  Samaritan  text  is  in  the  old  Character. 
In  India  the  Written  Characters  are  numerous  :  some  for  the 
learned,  some  for  the  shopkeeper,  a  third  for  the  Sacred  Books. 

What  influence  did  Sacred  Books  have  directly  upon  the  Soul 
of  the  common  people,  if  any  indirectly  through  the  Preacher  ? 
I  should  reply,  before  the  invention  of  Printing  "■  Jiofte" ;  before 
the  beginnmg  of  this  century  "  little."  We  are  so  familiar  now 
with  beautifully  clear  editions  in  every  child's  hand,  that  we 
unconsciously  transfer  this  state  of  things  to  former  times  :  some 
passages  of  the  119th  Psalm  unintentionally  deceive  us. 

Let  anybody,  who  has  seen  a  MS.,  whether  in  uncials,  or 
cursive,  in  minuscules,  or  tachygraphy,  consider  what  a  small 
portion  of  the  community  could  read  at  all,  and  of  those  who 
could  read,  how  few  could  read  such  MS. : 

(i)  The  Veda:  absolutely  none;  the  first  knowledge  of 
great  portions  has  come  from  the  European  transla- 
tion to  the  Hindu  Nation. 

(2)  The  Buddhistic  Books:  none  but  the  Priests. 

(3)  The  Confucianist  and  Taouist  Books:  the  literati  only. 

(4)  The  Zoroastrian  Books  :  none. 

(5)  The  Koran:  as  regards  non- Arabian  INIahometans  only 

those  who  read,  and  of  these  only  a  small  percentage 
can  understand. 

(6)  The  Old  Testament:  none  but  those  who  had  acquired 

the  Hebrew  Language,  which  ceased  to  be  a   living 
Language  after  the  return  from  Exile  at  Babylon. 

When  translations  into  living  Languages  existed,  there  was 
still  the  formidable  difficulty  of  the  Written  Character,  and 
the  absence  of  all  the  facilities  of  Capital  Letters,  punctuation, 
Paragraphs,  and  References.  We  know  what  difficulties  are  pre- 
sented by  the  written  MSS.  of  the  New  Testament  in  the  familiar 
Greek,  written  in  a  literary  age,  300  A. d.,  and  the  study  of  a  jMS. 
in  an  Indian  Written  Character,  even  in  this  century,  is  no  easy 
task  :  in  the  centuries  before  Anno  Domini  the  difficulties  must 
have  been  infinitely  greater,  and  the  resources  of  Memory  were 
more  made  use  of,  as  indeed  they  are  to  this  day,  when  men 
can  repeat  large  portions  of  their  Sacred  Books  by  heart. 

The  two  classes  of  Records  are  : 

(i)  Those  that  are    immoveable  on  rock,  and    carved  on 
metal,  brick,  or  stone-tablets. 


(       116       ) 

(a)  Those  that  are  on  perishable  materials,  moveable,  and 
liable  to  all  the  incidents  of  Human  existence,  fire, 
water,  ravages  of  insects,  decay,  rough  handling, 
wilful  destruction  by  petulant  kings  (Jeremiah, 
xxxvi,  23),  or  by  intolerant  religionists,  as  "happened 
to  the  early  translations  of  the  Bible  in  England. 

The  Rock-Inscriptions,  such  as  those  in  many  parts  of  India 
by  King  Asoka,  and  at  Behistun  in  Persia  by  King  Darius, 
bring  us  face  to  face  with  the  Monarchs  themselves :  in  all 
probability  they  looked  on,  and  touched  the  identical  objects, 
which  we  can  see  and  can  touch  at  this  day.  Any  attempt  to 
falsify  is  detected.  How  priceless  would  be  the  two  Tables 
of  Stone  of  Moses'  Law,  or  some  dedicatory  Statue  put  up  by 
King  Solomon  in  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem :  there  is  nothing, 
absolutely  nothing,  earlier  than  the  Moabite  Stone  of  the  ninth 
century  B.C.  in  the  Alphabet  then  used  by  the  Hebrews.  The 
Egyptian  and  Mesopotamian  Inscriptions  go  back  to  the  time 
of  Abraham  and  beyond.  Buried  away  in  safety,  they  have 
escaped  decay,  and  bring  messages  to  this  generation.  The 
Indian  Inscriptions  of  King  Asoka  have  been  preserved  some- 
times by  moss-covering.  We  feel  that  we  are  dealing  with 
positive  unadulterated  facts. 

How  difl'erent  is  the  position  of  all  moveable  Manuscripts 
on  fragile  materials  !  The  bricks  of  Mesopotamia  are  indeed 
fresh  from  the  writer's  hands ;  the  papyri  in  Mummies  are 
coeval  with  the  dates  of  the  tomb,  in  which  they  are  found  ; 
but  as  regards  other  Manuscripts,  there  is  no  certainty,  that  they 
have  not  been  tampered  with,  intentionally  or  unintentionally. 
No  Hebrew,  or  Sanskrit,  Manuscript  in  existence  is  much  older 
than  the  Norman  conquest  of  England.  Emphatically  we  have 
the  treasures,  Avhich  haughty  Time  has  spared  to  us,  as  the  out- 
come of  the  genius  of  the  great  men  of  past  centuries,  in 
earthen  vessels. 

A.     Necessity  for  Higher  Criticism. 

Higher  Criticism  is  the  peculiar  right  of  this  Epoch  :  we  are 
told  to  prove  all  things,  and  not  to  lend  our  ears  to  old 
women's  fables.  Archbishop  Benson  thus  expressed  himself, 
September  22,  1893,  in  his  Visitation-Charge: 

"  The  thirty-nine  Articles  throw  no  discouragement  in  the 
"  way  of  the  most  rigid  Criticism  of  the  Sacred  Books ;  they 
"  set  forth,  that  these  Books  must  ever  maintain  their  place, 
"  as  tests  of  Truth,  but,  as  their  meaning  must  be  arrived  at  by 
"  the  reverent  use  of  Sanctified  reason,  they  do  not  put  the 
"  Bible  up,  as  the  antagonist,  but  as  the  guiding  help,  of  man's 


(      117      ) 

"  reason.  How  far  questions  of  physical  science,  or  other 
"  matters,  quite  irrelevant  to  the  principles,  by  which  the 
"  Human  Soul  lives,  have  any  place  in  the  revelation,  which  the 
"  Bible  contains,  they  do  not  consider.  .  .  We  are  to  read  the 
"  Sacred  Records,  as  intelligent  men,  with  a  full  right  to  judge 
"  of  their  meaning  by  all  help,  which  an  enlightened  reason, 
•'  and  an  enlarged  observation,  and  experience,  and  the 
"  judgment  of  the  wise  of  the  past  and  present  time,  may 
"  place  within  our  reach." 

In  this  critical  age  a  literary  fraud  is  a  fraud,  but  it  was  not 
so  in  the  centuries  preceding,  and  immediately  following,  Anno 
Domini.  A  person,  who  wished  to  publish  his  views,  had  no 
hesitation  in  assuming  the  "  nom  de  plume "  (for  it  was  no 
more)  of  Enoch,  Moses,  Solomon,  Baruch,  Daniel,  or  even  of 
the  Sibyl ;  no  one  of  his  contemporaries  was  deceived  for  a 
moment,  any  more  than  by  a  letter  in  The  Times  signed  Brutus, 
or  Socrates ;  it  was  a  pious  fraud,  but  later  ages  have  taken  the 
names  of  Books  too  seriously,  as  we  should  rightly  do  as  regards 
a  modern  author.  Had  Milton  published  his  "Paradise  Lost" 
in  those  days,  his  utterances  would  have  been  accepted  by  a 
credulous  age  as  revelations,  just  as  the  Drama  of  the  Book  of 
Job  is  deemed  to  be  a  narrative  of  real  conversations,  in  which 
the  Ruler  of  the  Universe  is  made  to  take  a  part.  The 
difficulty  was  felt  very  acutely  at  the  period,  when  Greek 
and  Semitic  Thought  were  impinging  on  each  other.  The 
abstract  Philosophic  Conception  of  Plato  on  the  subject  of 
the  Logos  was  idealized  and  sanctified  by  Philo,  and  then 
passed  into  dogmatic  Christianity  in  the  Gospel  of  John.  The 
Greeks  had  long  before  recognised  the  literary  habit  of  intro- 
ducing into  serious  History,  such  as  the  Peloponnesian  War  of 
Thucydides,  entirely  fabricated  orations,  or  written  despatches  : 
it  would  seem  monstrous  in  the  present  Epoch  to  do  so,  but  it 
was  not  deemed  so  in  that  Epoch :  can  we  place  entire  credit  on 
the  despatches  of  Roman  Authorities  quoted  textually  in  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  any  more  than  on  the  speeches,  attributed 
to  Members  of  the  House  of  Commons  last  century,  but  actually 
written  by  Dr.  Johnson,  or  other  Editors  of  News-letters. 

Educated  man  is  a  reasoning  being,  and  there  are  some 
demands  on  Faith,  such  as  provoke  an  unqualified  rejection, 
as  inconsistent  with  ordinary  common-sense,  unless  the  person, 
who  hears  them,  is  willing  to  swallow  anything  that  a  Priest  tells 
him.  Sanctified  common-sense  rejects  the  notion,  that  Moses 
wrote  the  last  chapter  of  Deuteronomy,  describing  his  own 
death.  This  is  but  the  principle,  on  which  all  Higher  Criticism 
proceeds. 

There  were  no  Libraries  worth  calling  by  that  name  :  the 
travellers,  who  have  visited  the  Convents  of  Mount  Sinai,  Athos, 


(       118       ) 

and  the  Natron  Lake  in  Egypt,  tell  us  of  the  state,  in  which 
documents,  the  value  of  which  is  inestimable,  are  found.  The 
writings  of  Aristotle  were  placed  away  by  one  of  his  admirers  in 
a  safe  place,  and  bricked  up,  and  lost  sight  of  for  i8o  years: 
even  now,  at  this  late  date,  fragments  of  classical  authors  are 
coming  to  light.  We  may  find  additional  books  of  the  Old 
Testament  or  New  Testament,  which  were  not  known  to  the 
early  Christians.  There  is  no  historic  testimony  to  the  author- 
ship of  the  Peloponnesian  War  by  Thucydides  until  more  than 
two  hundred  years  after  he  died. 

Pass  from  the  Public  Library  to  the  ep'^/aaTi'jptov  of  the  writer, 
and  mark  the  difference  of  the  environment.  In  each  and  all  of 
the  Sacred  Books  of  the  Zoroastrian,  the  Brahman,  the  Buddhist, 
the  Confucianist,  the  Hebrew,  we  can  picture  to  ourselves,  how 
some  great  genius,  or  high  official,  or  a  succession  of  such, 
occupied  for  generations  the  same  office,  a  room  in  the  Temple, 
or  the  Priest's  office,  or  a  Convent,  and  placed  away  their 
autograph,  or  dictated.  Manuscripts,  in  some  chest,  or  shelf, 
or  drawer,  behind  the  Image  of  the  Idol,  under  the  bed  of  the 
Priests,  amidst  the  clothes  and  the  furniture :  they  were  quite 
forgotten  when  the  authors  died  :  somebody,  in  a  later  century, 
of  a  curious  disposition,  came  upon  them,  examined  them,  sorted 
them,  arranged  them  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  made  a  clean 
copy  of  them  with  his  own  hands,  or  that  of  his  clerks,  and 
let  the  old  fragments  perish :  nor  did  he  limit  his  interest 
to  copying,  for  he  corrected  what  seemed  to  him  mistakes, 
supplied  omissions,  intercalated  notes :  the  next  generation 
accepted  this  revision  as  the  original,  and  the  train  of  connection 
of  one  fragment  with  the  other  was  hopelessly  lost  till  the 
time  of  Higher  Criticism  came. 

No  chain  is  stronger  than  its  weakest  link,  with  no  disrespect 
to  the  holy  men,  who  more  than  two  thousand  years  ago 
committed  to  parchment,  or  papyrus,  or  the  talipat  leaf,  or  the 
skins  of  beasts,  their  thoughts  in  the  Written  Characters  of  their 
Epoch.  The  Inscriptions  on  stones  and  rocks  remain  as  they 
w'ere  on  their  first  day :  whatever  they  are  worth,  they  are 
genuine  articles.  We  know,  however,  that  they  also  can  be 
tampered  with  ;  for  the  Inscriptions  of  Queen  Hatasu  had  been 
deliberately  tampered  with  by  her  brother,  who  succeeded  her, 
but  the  alteration  made  is  palpable.  Manuscripts  carry  in 
themselves  the  seeds  of  decay,  and  can  be  replaced  by  others, 
and  the  fragments  of  one  mixed  up  with  fragments  of  another ; 
this  is  not  possible  with  documents  on  stone,  or  burnt  brick. 

At  any  rate,  the  altered  point  of  view  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
which  formerly  had  the  sole  monopoly  of  Sacred  Books,  must 
be  considered  ;  they  are  the  same  Scriptures,  as  a  house  is  the 
same  house,  whether  standing  alone  on  a  plain,  or  surrounded 


(       119       ) 

by  houses.  There  is  now  a  wider  orbit  than  that  of  the  old 
Roman  Empire  :  Syria  is  no  longer  the  Orient  "par  eminence," 
the  type  of  everything  in  Asia.  The  shores  of  the  Mediterranean, 
and  the  Region  of  Mesopotamia,  no  longer  comprise  "  tlie 
whole  world."  The  Religious  conceptions,  and  the  Sacred 
Books,  of  the  ancient  Nations  of  Asia  and  Egypt,  are  no  longer 
things  to  be  despised  or  talked  lightly  of;  their  objects  of 
Worship  can  no  longer  correctly  be  called  evil  Spirits  and 
devils ;  their  Worship  and  Prayers  can  no  longer  be  described 
as  abominations  and  lies,  but  as  the  early  crying  out  of  Nations 
in  their  childhood  to  their  great  Creator,  the  greatest  proof  of 
the  greatness  of  that  Creator,  and  illustrations  of  the  innate 
piety  of  His  poor  creatures,  for  every  Nation  has  tried  to  find 
out  the  great  Power,   which  rules  the  world,  and  has  failed. 

The  rise  of  new  difficulties  is  as  essential  to  the  Progress  of 
Truth  as  the  removal  of  old  puzzles  :  it  sometimes  happens,  that 
Truth,  Everlasting,  Unchangeable,  is  confused  with  the  opinion 
of  one  man,  one  coterie,  one  school  of  thought.  In  Higher 
Criticism  that  word  which  appears  so  fearful,  "New,"  is  really 
nothing  but  the  "  Old,"  better  understood  and  further  developed. 
The  aim  is  the  recovery  of  the  true  meaning  of  the  Bible. 
Every  Truth  is  better  than  even  the  most  edifying  error,  and 
a  Faith,  which  is  irreconcilable  with  Truth,  cannot  possibly  be 
the  right  one.  A  perfectly  free,  but  none  the  less  devout, 
Criticism  is  the  best  ally  of  Spiritual  Religion,  and  of  a  sound 
apologetic  Theology. 

The  license,  which  was  taken  by  early  Chronologers,  not  from 
dishonest,  or  base,  or  lying,  motives,  but  merely  from  their  idea 
of  correcting  what  appeared  to  them  to  be  a  mistake,  is  illus- 
trated by  Dr.  Hincks'  remarks  on  the  Book  of  Manetho, 
which  were  clearly  doctored  so  as  to  meet  the  wishes  of  the 
Chronologer,  and  to  bring  the  books  of  the  Egyptians  into 
harmony  with  what  the  writer  deemed  to  be  the  correct  inter- 
pretation of  the  Old  Testament.  There  was  an  utter  disregard 
of  literary  propriety:  in  modern  times  a  critic  would  write 
a  pamphlet  ;  in  those  days  the  critic  altered  the  jManuscript, 
which  seemed  to  him  to  be  wrong,  and  said  no  more  about  it. 

A  late  writer,  INIr.  Bellars,  in  his  "  Our  Inheritance  in  the  Old 
Testament,"  expresses  himself  to  the  following  effect : 

"  From  a  sincere  and  reverent  and  unprejudiced  and  truly 
learned  Criticism  the  believer  has  nothing  to  fear."  From  a 
review  of  his  work  in  The  Record,  1894,  I  quote  the  following: 

"The  mischief  has  been  partly  due  to  the  unintelligent  way, 
"  in  which  many  have  read  the  Bible.  They  have  practically 
"  ignored  the  Human  element.  In  spite  of  the  clearest 
"  difference  of  style,  and  manner,  and  genius,  they  have  viewed 
"  the  author  merely  as  the  pen  of  the  Holy  Spirit,   with   no 


(       120       ) 

"  personal  individuality.  That  there  are  plain  marks  of 
"  editorial  action  in  the  Old  Testament  is  a  matter  of  mere 
•'  common-sense.  How  far  the  Human  element  extends  is  a 
"  matter  of  careful  study,  as  is  the  question  of  what  is  literal 
"  history,  and  what  is  allegory." 

The  peculiar  features,  and  the  weak  side  of  Written  Records, 
are,  that  they  have  to  be  interpreted  by  the  ever- varying 
intelligence  of  different  generations  of  men,  who  import  into 
what  they  read,  or  hear  read,  the  tenets  of  their  own  environ- 
ment, and  intellectual  status :  the  Jews  of  Palestine  were  grossly 
ignorant ;  the  Christians  of  the  first  four  centuries,  in  spite  of 
the  Greek  and  Roman  Philosophic  influences,  not  much  better; 
then  came  a  long  tyrannous  period  of  Ecclesiastical  despotic 
interpretation  ;  with  the  Reformation  came  freedom,  but  there 
was  ignorance  of  the  world  outside  Europe  and  its  frontagers  ; 
there  was  an  entire  absence  of  knowledge  of  Comparative 
Philology,  Comparative  Religion,  and  Higher  Criticism.  The 
situation  of  the  followers  of  the  other  Sacred  Books  was, 
intellectually,  still  more  degraded.  A  kind  of  worship  of  the 
Book  itself  of  the  grossest  kind  followed  ;  even  to  this  day 
I  read,  that  one  hundred  and  forty  Christians  in  Armenia  were 
imprisoned  on  the  charge  of  desecrating  the  Koran.  The 
Mahometan  would  think  nothing  of  burning  or  destroying, 
a  Sacred  Book  of  the  Hindu,  or  Zoroastrian  ;  and  in  Europe 
to  this  day,  the  Priests  of  Rome  follow  the  Bible-Society  agent, 
and  tear  up  all  the  copies  which  they  can  get  hold  of. 

Another  feature  is,  that  the  Sacred  Books  of  all  Religions 
are  understood  only  by  educated  persons,  and  only  partially  by 
them,  for  they  are  old-fashioned  in  their  phraseology,  poetical, 
svmbolical,  exaggerated,  full  of  coarse  similes  or  allegories, 
and  speculations  too  refined  for  the  vulgar  herd,  who  had  to 
be  content  with  an  inferior  order  of  Divine  Things,  and  fell 
back  on  lower,  but  visible,  objects  of  Worship. 

Certain  misconceptions  have  to  be  cleared  away:  any  date 
at  pleasure  can  be  assigned  to  the  period  of  Job's  existence: 
critically  it  matters  not,  but  it  does  matter  very  much  what  date  is 
assigned  to  the  beautiful  Hebrew  Drama,  which  bears  the  name 
of  Job.  Admitting  that  there  was  a  Hebrew  of  great  distinc- 
tion, named  Daniel,  at  Babylon  during  the  Captivity,  there  is 
great  difficulty  in  assigning  the  Book,  which  bears  his  name,  to 
that  Epoch.  So  also  a  careful  distinction  has  to  be  made 
betwixt  the  date  of  a  book  in  the  recognised  form,  in  which 
we  have  it,  and  the  dates  of  the  materials,  on  which  the  book 
is  based.  This  difficulty  presses  heavily  on  the  Student  of  the 
Sacred  Books  of  the  Zoroastrian.  Will  anyone  be  bold  enough 
to  state,  that  any  book  in  the  sense,  in  which  we  use  the  term, 
whether  a  roll,  or  leaves,  existed  before  700  B.C.,  familiarly  used 


(       121       ) 

by  private  owners,  not  liturgical  Rolls  of  the  Temple.  To 
compose  such  a  book  there  must  be  a  graphic  vehicle  for  con- 
veying Ideas,  such  as  an  Alphabet,  a  substance  like  papyrus, 
or  skin,  or  clay,  on  which  the  words  could  be  impressed, 
a  colouring-matter,  by  which  in  the  two  former  cases  the 
impression  could  be  made,  and  a  vehicle  for  conveying  that 
liquid  under  proper  control  of  a  skilful  hand.  Before  that 
Epoch,  the  tongue  was  the  teacher,  not  the  pen. 

B.     Connection  between  Language  and  Religion. 

Language  is  the  vehicle  of  communication  between  a  man 
and  his  fellow-men  ;  Religion  is  the  same  between  Man  and 
God.  The  conception  of  Religion,  and  the  mode  of  expressing 
orders,  opinions,  wishes,  are  generally  limited  within  National, 
or  tribal,  boundaries.  As  the  Religious  horizon  enlarges,  so 
does  the  capacity  of  expressing  Ideas  by  words  enlarge  also. 
The  first  and  most  important  oral  legends,  or  written  Records, 
in  each  Nation  are  connected  with  Religion.  Man  was  born 
without  either :  his  earliest  thoughts  were  connected  with  his 
Religious  conceptions,  and  they  found  expression  at  a  very 
early  period  in  Language.  No  other  animal,  but  the  genus 
Homo,  has  acquired  the  power  to  express  his  thoughts  in 
words  :  intelligent  animals,  like  dogs,  clearly  have  thoughts,  but 
though  they  live  their  lives,  many  of  them,  with  men  in  the 
highest  stage  of  culture,  they  never  reach  the  power  of  articulate 
speech,  nor  can  they  be  taught  to  do  so.  On  the  other  hand, 
no  Race  of  man,  however  ignorant  or  degraded,  has  been  found 
devoid  of  the  power  of  conveying  thoughts  to  words,  and  of  those 
words,  few  as  they  may  be,  a  portion  relate  to  their  Religious 
conception.  We  come,  therefore,  to  this,  that  the  Creator  gave 
man  to  work  out  in  his  own  way  his  Language-making  Faculty 
and  Religious  Instinct.  No  Race  has  ever  been  found  un- 
supplied  with  these  two  gifts,  however  low  their  standard. 

It  is  no  fond  fancifulness,  that  connects  Language  with 
Religion  :  neither  apparently  could  exist  without  the  other ; 
at  least,  they  have  never  been  found  existing  alone :  a  deaf  and 
dumb  community  could  with  difficulty  join  in  prayer.  The 
Traveller  landing  in  a  barbarous  island,  catches  alive  the 
sounds,  that  represent  thoughts,  calls  them  words,  and  records 
them ;  he  then,  through  those  words  used  by  himself,  probes  the 
thoughts,  and  finds  his  way  to  their  Religious  conceptions. 

Bishop  Westcott  thus  expresses  himself:  "Religion  must 
"  be  a  solution  of  the  mysteries,  by  which  man  is  surrounded : 
"  a  solution,  which  shall  bring  into  harmonious  relation.  Past, 
"  Present,  and  Future,  the  seen  and  unseen,  the  conflicting 
"  elements  of  our  personal  nature. 


(       122       ) 


"A  Religion  and  a  Language,  even  in  their  simplest  form, 
*'  are  witnesses  to  necessities  in  Man's  constitution  :  no  one 
"  Language  exhausts  Man's  capacity  for  defining  objects  of 
"  thought,  but  all  Languages  give  a  lively  and  rich  picture 
"  of  his  certain,  yet  gradual,  advance  in  innumerable  different 
"  paths  towards  the  fulness  of  intellectual  development.  So 
"  is  it  with  the  many  Faiths,  which  Men  have  adopted  :  these, 
"  in  due  measure,  reveal  something  of  his  Religious  powers 
"  and  needs."     (Westcott :  Gospel  of  Life,  pp.  i8,  io6.) 

C.    Advantages  derived  from  the  perusal  of  the  Sacred  Books. 

"The  central  Idea  of  the  Book-Religions  was  the  necessity 
"  of  harmony  betwixt  Man,  the  World,  and  God.  Great 
"Teachers  in  different  climes  accentuated  and  recorded  this; 
"  but  in  lapse  of  time  mistakes,  misinterpretations,  and  gross 
"  ignorance,  overlaid  it  on  one  side  with  speculation,  on  the 
"  other  with  material  ceremoniousness.  What  was  meant  to 
"  be  a  Religion  developed  into  a  cold  Philosophy,  such  as  the 
"  Brahmanical  and  Greek,  or  degraded  itself  into  an  unmean- 
"  ing  ritual,  or  diluted  itself  by  incorporation  of  local  practices 
"  and  rural  beliefs." 

Professor  Legge  writes :  "  One  is  often  grieved  to  read  the 
"  incautious  assertion  of  writers,  who  think,  that  apart  from  our 
"  Christian  Scriptures  there  are  no  lessons  for  man  about  their 
"  duties,  and  that  Heathendom  has  in  consequence  never  been 
"  anything  but  a  slough  of  immoral  filth,  and  outrageous  crime. 
"  Such  writers  betray  their  ignorance  of  the  system  and  people, 
"  about  which  they  affirm  such  things,  and  their  ignorance 
"  of  the  sacred  volumes,  which  they  wish  to  exalt.  Such 
"  advocacy  is  damaging  rather  than  beneficial  to  Christianity." 

Bishop  Westcott  writes:  "As  Christianity  is  universal,  every 
"  genuine  expression  of  Human  Religious  thought  illuminates 
"  our  Faith,  and  enables  us  to  see  in  the  Gospel  some  corre- 
"  spending  Truth :  if  we  can  understand  what  whole  Races 
"  of  men  were  feeling  after,  we  shall  have  a  clue  to  the  discovery 
"  of  mysteries,  for  which  we,  with  our  limited  Religious  instincts, 
"  should  not  otherwise  have  sought,  and  in  the  given  assurance, 
"  that  the  Gospel  meets  each  real  need  of  Humanity,  we  shall 
"  find  the  highest  conceivable  proof  of  its  final  and  absolute 
"  Truth."     (Westcott:  Gospel  of  Life,  p.  121.) 

In  the  posthumous  volumes  of  the  Histoire  des  peuple  Israel, 
vol.  iii,  p.  524,  Renan  thus  expresses  himself: 

"  The  return  of  the  Jews  from  Babylon  was  of  general 
"  advantage  to  the  Human  Race:  it  solved  a  question  of  life 
"  or  death.  Had  part  of  the  Jewish  exiles  not  returned,  the  fate 
"  of  the  two  tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin  would  have  been  that 


(       123       ) 

"  of  the  other  ten  :  they  would  have  disappeared,  and  Christianity 
"would  never  have  come  into  existence:  the  Hebrew  Sacred 
"  Books,  such  as  they  were  when  the  Exile  commenced,  would 
"have  disappeared  also:  we  should  have  known  nothing  of 
"  those  strange  stories,  which  have  charmed  and  consoled 
"  so  many  generations.  The  little  Caravan,  which  crossed  the 
"  desert  535  r.c  from  Babylon  to  Jerusalem,  carried  with  it  the 
"  Future  of  the  World,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Religion 
"  of  Humanity." 

It  is  true,  and  Islam  would  never  have  come  into  existence 
either;  but  no  doubt  the  Parsi  of  Bombay,  the  Buddhist  and 
Confucianist  of  Further  Asia,  the  Brahman  of  India,  the  pro- 
fessors of  which  Religions  comprise  more  than  half  the  population 
of  the  world,  would  no  doubt  tell  in  the  same  romantic  way  how 
the  preservation  of  their  Sacred  Books  during  time  of  peril 
affected  the  character  of  the  jNIillions  of  Asia:  the  Buddhist 
Pilgrims  from  China  to  India  did  something  of  the  same  kind. 

The  history  of  the  people  of  the  ancient  world,  if  looked 
at  from  a  proper  point  of  view,  is  a  grand  procession  of  an 
ever-increasing  knowledge  of  God  ;  all  the  different  Religious 
conceptions,  and  forms  of  civilization,  contributed  in  their 
different  ways  to  the  great  purposes  of  the  Creator  of  Mankind, 
and  their  existence  was  part  of  the  Divine  Plan.  Each  con- 
ception was  within  the  radius  of  its  influence,  a  Schoolmaster, 
7rai£di'jiv^/ov,  leading  on  to  something  higher  and  better,  which 
coming  Ages,  and  Nations  yet  to  be  born,  would  mature. 
Unassisted  man  would  have  been  unequal  to  the  gestation  of 
such  spiritual  Empires  as  those  of  the  Brahman,  the  Buddhist, 
and  the  Confucianist.  To  suppose  this  to  have  come  into 
existence  in  defiance  of  the  Divine  Will,  and  in  contempt  of 
His  Commands,  would  indeed  be  a  practical  piling  of  Pelion  on 
Ossa,  as  told  in  Greek  fables.  From  the  very  first  the  Human 
Race  knew  of  a  Divine  Law,  of  a  fixed  distinction  betwixt 
Right  and  Wrong;  gradually  they  became  aware  of  their  guilt, 
God's  mercy,  the  necessity  of  Prayer  and  of  Holiness,  and  all 
these  things  are  set  forth  in  the  Sacred  Books,  which  we  are 
now  discussing. 

A  one-sided  partizan  in  the  Quar/er/y  Revieiv,  January,  1894, 
writes :  "  Despite  the  poetic  fancy,  which  invests  non- 
"  Christian  Religious  systems  with  an  aureole  of  sanctity  and 
"  beauty,  they  have  been  weighed,  and  found  wanting  in  power 
•'  to  meet  the  deepest  wants  of  mankind.  Whatever  their  right- 
"  ful  place  may  have  been  under  Providence  in  the  education  of 
"Humanity;  whatever  the  virtues,  w'hich  they  are  calculated 
"  to  produce  among  people  in  certain  stages  of  mental  and 
"  material  development ;  however  beautiful  the  theory,  or 
"  elevated  the  ethics,  which  some  of  them  embody  or  enjoin, 


(      124      ) 

"  we  cannot  accept  them,  as  a  substitute  for  Christianity." 
Who  asked  anybody  to  accept  them  on  these  terms  ?  Who 
asked  this  substitution  to  be  made  ?  This  is  only  a  rhetorical 
flourish.  Compared  to  that  Gospel  preached  in  Galilee  in 
the  great  Anno  Domini,  the  fairest  flowers  of  the  Ancient 
world  are  as  weeds ;  but  look  around  at  Christianity,  as 
evidenced  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  in  Europe,  and  as 
deported  from  Europe  into  Africa,  Asia,  and  Oceania,  in  the 
form  of  the  most  noxious  products  of  the  Earth.  Is  there 
anything  Christian  in  the  mode,  in  which  Europeans  deal  with 
subject  Races  ?  Take  U-Ganda  in  Central  Africa,  and  Ma- 
Tabele-land  in  South  Africa,  as  the  latest  specimens.  The 
Ancient  Heathen  before  Anno  Domino  erred,  because  they 
know  no  better.  The  Moderns  err,  in  spite  of  knowledge, 
warning,  and  example.  The  chief  feature  of  Christian  Life 
and  Liberty  is,  that  it  leaves  the  Salvation  of  the  Soul  of  each 
of  God's  creatures  to  his  own  Faith  in  his  Saviour,  that  it 
spurns  Ritual  and  Sacerdotalism  ;  that  it  will  have  nothing  to 
do  with  the  old  illusions,  which  existed  before  Anno  Domini ; 
that  it  is  so  reasonable,  so  sweetly  simple,  so  suitable  to  man  in 
every  stage  of  Human  culture;  not  limited  to  any  Race,  any 
Country,  any  Language,  or  any  period  of  Human  life.  Will  not, 
however,  the  enforcement  of  Higher  Criticism  reduce  the 
estimation  of  the  Scriptures,  and  injure  Religion.  Prof.  Driver 
objects  to  the  Bible  (at  least  the  Old  Testament)  being  called 
the  "  Word  of  God,"  and  would  substitute  "  the  Word  of  God 
mediated  by  Human  instrumentality."  My  own  view  has  always 
been  the  same.  As  the  A0709  Himself  came  to  us  in  Human 
guise,  subject  to  the  infirmities  of  hunger,  thirst,  fatigue,  grief, 
tears.  Human  love,  and  even  Human  anger,  so  the  Bible  has 
come  to  us  in  the  envelopment  of  perishing  vocables.  Human 
sounds,  logical  sentences,  subject  to  the  perils  of  copying,  editing, 
correcting,  transposing  portions,  omissions,  additions,  all 
which  perils  do  not  exist  in  our  literary  age.  Milton's  Poems 
come  down  to  us  practically  intact  in  his  own  MS. 

In  The  Expositor  of  October,  1894,  there  is  a  paper  called 
"  Prof.  W.  Robertson  Smith's  Doctrine  of  Scripture,"  by  Prof. 
Lindlay,  of  Glasgow.  Robertson  Smith  maintains,  that  his 
doctrine  as  regards  the  Old  Testament  is  identical  with  that 
of  Calvin  and  the  Reformers  : 

"The  Bible  brought  man  into  personal  fellowship  with  a 
"  redeeming  God  [p.  245],  who  through  the  ages  had  spoken  to 
"  His  people,  telling  His  Salvation,  and  giving  the  promise  of 
"  it,  sometimes  in  direct  words,  sometimes  in  pictures  of  His 
"  dealing  with  the  Hebrews."  But  these  Scriptures  were 
historical  (p.  247). 

"  Just  as  the  principle  of  personal  Faith  is  the  foundation 


(       125       ) 

"  of  all  the  fresh  life  of  the  Reformation,  so  the  principle  of 
"  a  historical  inatment  of  Scripture  is  at  the  bottom  the  principle 
"  of  the  whole  Reformation-l'heology."     (p.  247.) 

So  there  are  two  sides  to  Biblical  Records : 

(i)  "They  are  historical  documents,  subject  to  the  ordinary 
career  of  historical  research." 

(2)  "  They  are  the  medium,  whereby  the  Personal  God  reveals 
Himself  to  His  people." 

Calvin  and  the  other  Reformers  held  firmly  by  the  doctrine  of 
the  witness  of  the  Spirit,  yet  they  treated  the  Record  with 
boldness.  Calvin  speaks  out  boldly,  that  in  Matthew,  xxvii,  9, 
the  attribution  of  the  prophesy  of  the  30  pieces  of  silver  to 
Jeremiah  instead  of  Zedekiah  was  an  ctTor  (p.  249). 

We  must  distinguish  between  the  Record,  that  is  to  say  the 
sheets  of  paper  and  vellum  covered  with  writing,  and  the  Divine 
communication  of  God's  heart  and  will,  which  the  Record 
conveys  (p.  250). 

"The  Revelation  of  God's  will  is  a  Spiritual  manifestation  of 
"  a  Supernatural  reality  to  be  apprehended  by  Faith  ;  but  the 
"  witness  of  the  Spirit  does  not  attach  to  the  outward  Characters 
"  of  the  Record."     (pp.  256,  257.) 

"  In  outward  form  the  Scripture  is  like  other  Human  writings  ; 
"  the  Supernatural  reality  is  incased  in  Human  realities :  to 
"  apprehend  the  former,  the  use  of  Faith  enlightened  by  the 
"  Holy  Spirit  is  necessary:  with  regard  to  the  historical  credi- 
"  bility  of  Scripture,  it  is  sufficient  to  use  the  ordifiaty  methods  of 
"  Research.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  Faith,  when  the  Books  were 
"  w'ritten,  by  whom,  in  what  style,  or  how  often  they  were 
"  edited  or  re-edited ;  it  is  not  a  matter  of  Faith  whether 
"  incidents  happened  in  one  century  or  another,  whether  Job 
"  is  a  history  or  a  poem :  all  such  things  belong  to  the  Human 
"  side  of  the  Record.  The  Bible  is  part  of  Human  literature 
"  as  well  as  the  Record  of  Divine  Revelation.  It  is  our  duty 
"  to  examine  it  as  literature,  and  to  determine  all  its  Human 
"  and  literary  characteristics  by  the  same  methods  as  are  applied 
"  to  the  analysis  of  other  ancient  Books."     (pp.  258,  259.) 

"The  value  of  the  Bible  is  not  affected  by  the  fact,  that  the 
"  Text,  as  we  now  have  it  (after  the  lapse  of  ignorant  centuries), 
"  contains  some  marks  of  Human  imperfection,  some  verbal 
**  and  historical  errors."     (p.  260.) 

"  The  Bible  is  a  direct  gift  of  God  to  us ;  it  is  not  a  mere 
"  inheritance  from  the  earlier  Church  :  God  has  employed  a  series 
"  of  Human  agaicies,  and  in  the  use  of  these  agencies  has  not 
"  excluded  every  Human  imperfection."     (p.  260.) 

"  The  Evangelicals  have  used  typology  as  freely  as  the  mediaeval 
"  Theologians  employed  the  fourfold  sense,  extracting  truths 
"  from  the  description  of  the  Temple  and  its  functions. 


(       126      ) 

"  The  Broad  Church  distinguished  clearly  betwixt  the  Word 
"  of  God  contained  in  the  Scripture,  and  the  Scripture,  the 
"  Record  of  that  Word,  and  they  went  further  and  declared, 
"  that  those  parts  of  the  Scripture,  which  did  not  appear  to 
"  them  to  be  Divine  utterances,  were  «<?/  the  word  of  God, 
"  thus  leading  to  the  conclusion  that  part  of  the  Scripture 
*'  was,  and  part  was  no/,  the  Word  of  God."     (p.  263.) 

D.    Descj'iption  of  the  Sacred  Books. 

Let  us  consider  what  are  these  Sacred  Books :  they  divide 
themselves  into  two  classes  : 

A.  The  contemporary  Written  Records. 

B.  Poetical  and  Philosophic  Works  of  a  later  date. 

A.  Here  a  second  division  introduces  itself: 

I.  Dead  Religious  conceptions. 
II.  Living  Religious  conceptions. 

I.  Records  of  Dead  Religious  conceptions  have  come  down 
to  us  from 

(i)  The  Egyptians. 

(2)  The  Assyrians. 

(3)  The  Babylonians. 

11.  Records  of  Living  Religious  conceptions  have  come  down 
to  us  from 

(i)  The  Zoroastrian. 

(2)  The  Brahmanical. 

(3)  The  Hebrew. 

(4)  The  Buddhist. 

(5)  The  Confucianist. 

(6)  The  Taouist. 

(7)  The  Jainist. 

(8)  The  Mahometan,  long  after  Anno  Domini. 

B.  Poetic  and  Philosophic  Works  of  a  later  date. 

The  Grseco-Roman  cults  were  represented  by  no  Writings,  to 
which  the  name  of  Sacred  Books  could  be  applied,  but  a  clear 
idea  of  the  nature  of  that  cult  can  be  formed  from  the  great 
Dramatic,  and  Poetic,  and  Philosophic  Works,  which  have 
survived  of  the  great  literatures  of  those  countries. 

It  lies  outside  the  purport  of  this  Essay  to  do  more  than 
allude  to  the  wonderful  Writings,  which  Science  in  the  last  half 


(      127      ) 

century  has  revealed  to  us,  copies  of  Inscriptions  on  tablets, 
and  burnt  bricks,  JNIanuscripts  on  Papyrus,  Parchment,  and  the 
Talipat  Leaf:  it  seems  incredible,  if  it  were  not  a  fact:  in  the 
case  of  the  stone  and  brick  survivals  of  the  ravages  of  centuries, 
we  can  handle  and  see.  Professor  Sayce  writes  :  "  In  these 
*'  late  years  Chaldea  has  given  up  its  ancient  stores  of  know- 
"  ledge  :  it  seems  not  without  design,  that,  when  temple  and 
"  tower  went  to  the  ground,  the  Sacred  Books  of  the  early  and 
"  forgotten  Nations  should  have  survived,  carved  in  stone,  or 
"in  burnt-clay  bricks:  they  are  of  three  kinds:  (i)  magical 
"  texts,  (2)  hymns  of  a  spiritual  character,  (3)  penitential 
"  psalms  ;  and  in  two  Languages :  the  non-Arian  Akkadian,  and 
"  the  Semitic-Assyrian :  this  was  the  Babylonian  Bible  in  the 
"  time  of  Nebuchadnezzar"  (Religion  of  Babylon,  p.  313). 

Some  analogies  arise  betwixt  the  handling  of  these  ancient 
books  by  their  successors.  Kong-Fu-Tsee  arranged,  annotated, 
and  edited,  with  possible  improvements  from  his  point  of  view, 
the  old  Religious  Books  of  the  Chinese,  known  as  the  King, 
just  as  Ezra  edited  such  books  of  the  Old  Testament  as  came 
back  with  the  Exiles  from  Babylon  (Legge's  Religion  of  China). 
At  a  certain  period  in  the  long  History  of  India,  Manu  codified 
the  laws  of  the  Indian  Nation,  very  much  as  Ezra  codified  the 
unwritten  laws  of  the  Hebrew  Nation,  which  we  know  as  the 
Priestly  Code  :  there  was  no  idea  of  forgery,  or  imposition : 
they  considered,  that  they  were  doing  a  good  service  in 
developing,  and  arranging,  on  scientific  orderly  plans  the 
scattered  effusions  of  their  predecessors,  who  lived  in  a  non- 
literary  age. 

The  writers  of  those  remote  years  were  not  without  a  deep 
spiritual  undertone :  in  the  Bhagavadgita,  of  the  Sankya  School 
of  Hindu  Philosophy,  "the  duty  and  necessity  are  put  neatly 
"  before  us  of  living  in  the  world,  but  not  of  the  world,  of 
"  keeping  our  hearts  free  from  overpowering  interest  in  the 
"  world,  of  fixing  our  love  on  the  Supreme  Being ;  we  should 
"  do  our  duty  in  the  world,  and  yet  morally  renounce  the  world 
"  by  rejecting  all  its  fascinations  "  (Thompson's  Edition,  cxxxi). 

In  past  History  there  are  only  two  Nations,  who  developed 
a  real  Philosophy,  that  is  to  say  "a  desire  for  knowledge,"  the 
Indian  and  the  Greek:  at  a  given  moment  in  their  History, 
they  produced  a  class  of  men  with  leisure,  knowledge  of  the 
phenomena  of  their  environment,  intellect,  and  a  desire  to 
think  out  the  origin  of  the  phenomena  of  the  world  around 
them,  which  consisted  of  Self,  other  living  creatures,  and  the 
great  unknown  Common  Cause :  their  search  was  that  of 
observation,  comparison,  introspection :  the  questions  pro- 
pounded for  solution  were,  What  am  I  ?  where  am  I  ?  whither 
am  I  going  ? 


(       128       ) 


TJoi)'yei'Ofi.ai  ;    Tivo'i  eijiU  ;    tivo's  ■^apiv  rjXOov,  uTrrfKOov  ! 

These  questions,  in  spite  of  all  the  babbling  in  thousands  of 
pulpits,  have  never  yet  been  answered.  The  teachers  of  the 
people  used  then  to  be  the  wisest :  it  is  the  absence  of  wisdom, 
which  now  qualifies  :  a  genius  in  Church-circles  would  get  no 
quarter. 

Buddha,  Socrates,  and  One  greater  than  they,  left  behind 
them  not  one  single  autograph  word.  What  we  know  of  them 
is  from  the  pen  of  devoted  followers,  but  it  is  difficult  to  free 
the  mind  from  the  conviction  that  the  great  Story  expanded  itself 
as  time  went  on,  that  John  the  Evangelist  had,  after  an  interval 
of  forty  years,  reached  an  Intellectual  epoch  far  beyond  the  three 
elder  Evangelists,  just  as  Plato,  who  lived  fifty  years  after  the 
death  of  Socrates,  idealized  his  Master  by  putting  into  his 
mouth  the  magnificent  outcome  of  his  own  genius,  which  had 
advanced  with  an  advancing  age ;  as  to  Buddha,  we  know  little 
for  certain,  though  much  has  been  written.  This  fact  marks 
distinctly  how  the  age  had  advanced  in  a  literary  conscience, 
that  the  followers  of  Mahomet,  immediately  after  his  death, 
A.D.  632,  collected  all  the  scattered  fragments  of  his  autograph 
writings,  copied  them  all  out  in  one  authorized  copy,  and 
destroyed  everything  else  :  if  there  be  anything  false  in  the 
Koran,  it  is  the  falsehood  of  the  epoch  of  Mahomet,  not 
the  accrescence  of  his  credulous  successors.  It  seems  strange 
that  Matthew  makes  no  mention  of  the  raising  of  Lazarus,  of 
which  he  was  an  eye-witness.  But  for  John,  forty  years  later,  we 
should  never  have  heard  of  this  great  "Miracle  performed  in  the 
near  neighbourhood  of  Jerusalem,  and  in  the  presence  of  Jews, 
who  at  once  reported  the  matter  to  the  Chief  Priests. 

Mr.  Grote,  the  historian,  justly  remarked  with  regard  to 
Greece,  "that  we  possess  only  what  has  drifted  ashore  from  the 
wreck  of  a  stranded  vessel,"  and  the  wreck  has  only  given  up 
fragments,  or  planks  of  Knowledge,  bit  by  bit  during  the  long 
course  of  centuries.  It  is  a  notable  fact,  that  the  Greeks, 
occupied  though  they  were  with  speculation  on  Divine  things, 
left  no  so-called  Sacred  Texts,  to  which  reference  could  be 
made.  Avowedly  Hesiod  and  Homer  were  the  first  setters  forth 
of  their  Theology,  till  the  time  came  when  Socrates  acted  as 
a  dissolvent  of  cherished  but  archaic  Ideas,  and  brought  alleged 
Miracles  to  the  cold  ordeal  of  Reason  :  they  disappeared,  and 
were  not  kept  in  a  galvanized  life  like  the  Miracles  recorded 
in  the  Asiatic  Sacred  Books,  written  long  before  the  age  of 
Criticism. 

The  supercilious  Greek  and  Roman  held  that  their  geo- 
graphical environment  represented  the  world ;  their  conception 


(       129       ) 

of  the  Orient  ceased  to  extend  beyond  the  Euphrates  :  the 
March  of  Alexander  to  the  Hyphasis  was  relegated  to  the  same 
class  of  events  as  the  voyage  of  Jason  for  the  Golden  Fleece, 
and  the  Siege  of  Troy.  The  convenient  term  Bcipl^dpoc 
comprised  all  the  Millions  of  the  population  of  the  world, 
except  the  Region,  of  which  the  Mediterranean  Sea  was  the 
centre  :  India  and  China,  with  half  the  population  of  the  world, 
sate  haughtily  apart.  Now  that  the  whole  surface  of  the 
Globe  is  known,  we  feel  how  narrow  were  the  Ideas  of  the 
Roman  and  Greek  writers  as  regards  to  spiritual  as  well  as 
material  things.  The  Hebrews,  if  we  can  judge  from  the  lists 
of  Nations,  against  whom  curses  were  launched,  had  a  still 
narrower  geographical  horizon,  and  called  all  the  other  Nations 
"Goi." 

The  beautiful  Poem  of  the  ^Eneid  may  well  be  called  The 
Bible  of  the  Romans :  it  is  made  up  of  Miracles,  Prophecies, 
the  interference  in  Human  affairs  of  the  Immortals,  the  anger 
and  the  kind  favour  of  the  individual  members  of  the 
Immortals,  Signs  from  Heaven,  Prayer,  Sacrifices,  Dreams, 
Visions,  Theophanies,  and  the  conception  of  a  Future  State, 
accompanied  by  Rewards  and  Punishments :  throughout  the 
great  principle  inculcated  is  obedience  to  the  Gods,  and  Virtue, 
Chastity,  Monogamy,  and  Family-Duties. 

I  really  feel  afraid  to  express  my  own  opinions  in  my  own 
words,  so  I  quote  those  of  Bishop  Westcott : 

"  The  Poems  of  Homer  were,  as  it  were,  a  Bible  to  the 
"  Athenian  people :  everyone  was  more  or  less  familiar  with 
"  their  contents,  and  derived  from  them  the  general  view  of 
"  the  relations  of  God  to  man,  of  the  Seen  and  the  Unseen, 
"  which  form  the  background  to  the  common  prospect  of 
"  Life."     (Religious  Thoughts  of  the  West,  p.  loi.) 

•'  The  myths  of  Plato  transcend  the  dominion  of  pure  Reason  : 
"  they  answer  to  Revelation  as  an  endeavour  to  enrich  the 
"  store  of  Human  Knowledge,  and  to  the  Gospel  as  an  en- 
*'  deavour  to  present,  under  the  form  of  facts,  the  manifestation 
"  of  Divine  Wisdom."     {/5/d.,  p.  48.) 

What  can  more  convince  us  that  the  Fulness  of  Time  was 
at  hand  ?  Poor  Human  reason  had,  in  the  speculations  of  the 
Indian  and  Greek  Seekers  after  God,  gone  as  far  as  finite 
faculties  would  permit. 

The  same  kind  of  tender  feeling  towards  Virgil  was  enter- 
tained in  the  early  centuries  of  Christianity  :  Paul  landed  at 
Appii  Forum,  and  in  his  walk  to  Neapolis  must  have  passed 
over  the  heights  of  Posilippo,  now  pierced  by  a  tunnel  ; 
in  this  journey  he  would  have  passed  within  touch  of  the  grave 
and  monument  of  Virgil,  who  had  died  about  half  a  century 
before  his  arrival.     A  Monkish  poem  in  Latin  describes  how 


(       130       ) 

pleased  Paul  would  have  been  to  have  met  Virgil,  and  conversed 
with  him,  had  he  arrived  a  few  years  earlier : 

"  Ad  Virgilii  Mausoleum 
"  Ductus,  fudit  super  eum 

"  Pias  rorem  lacrymce. 
"  '  Qualem,'  dixit,  te  fecissem 
"  Si  te  vivum  invenissem, 

"  Poetarum  maxime  1 " 

The  Divine  light,  as  it  were,  shone  through  the  Human  garment 
of  words  and  sentences  in  these  ancient  Books.  Round  the 
Divine  germ  the  Human  writer  threw  the  hard  husk  of  his  own 
individuality,  his  degree  of  culture,  his  idea  of  decency  and 
literary  fitness,  the  atmosphere  of  the  environment,  in  which  he 
moved;  and  centuries  later  someone  moving  in  a  totally  different 
environment,  with  different  tastes,  experiences,  and  culture,  took 
up  the  old  Manuscript,  and  presumed  to  manipulate  it,  bringing 
it  down  to  the  level  of  a  later  age. 

The  Hebrew  Books  had  this  advantage  over  the  Zend, 
Indian,  and  the  Books  of  the  extreme  Orient,  that  Palestine 
was  geographically  situated  on  the  frontier  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Socrates  and  Plato,  and  by  a  literary  fancy  of  a  Greek 
Monarch  of  Egypt  was  transferred  from  its  own  Semitic  garb 
into  one  of  the  two  greatest  vehicles  of  Human  Ideas,  Greek, 
and  Sanskrit.  Six  hundred  years  later  one  of  the  ablest  and 
most  devoted  of  translators,  Jerome,  transferred  them  from  the 
original  Hebrew  into  the  great  reservoir  of  European  idioms, 
the  Latin  Language,  then  on  the  eve  of  extinction.  For  one 
thousand  years  it  remained  in  a  comatose  state  till  Erasmus 
came,  and  with  him  the  new  Idea,  the  new  mechanism  of  the 
Printing-Press,  and  the  downfall  of  Priestcraft.  Many  a  good 
soul  of  that  period  resented  the  idea  of  the  Sacred  Books  being 
transferred  into  an  unsanctified  Vernacular,  and  kicked  against 
Erasmus  and  his  notions,  as  they  do  now  against  the  Higher 
Criticism.  During  those  long  centuries  the  other  Sacred  Books 
of  the  Ancient  World  had  been  shrouded  from  the  knowledge 
of  the  followers  of  the  Religious  conception,  and  all  outsiders. 


E.    Was  there  a  Divine  Afflatus  ? 

An  accomplished  writer  has  written  as  follows  :  *'  In  all  ages 
•'  there  have  been  enthusiasts  :  the  Hebrew  Prophets  were  so  ; 
"  the  men  in  after  ages,  canonized  as  Saints,  were  so  :  there 
"  are  certain  minds  capable  of  penetrating  the  uselessness  of 


(       131       ) 

"  a  purely  worldly  existence,  and,  finding  it  hard  to  live  a 
"  double  life,  one  material,  the  other  spiritual,  seek  refuye  in 
"  seclusion,  and  leave  the  outer  world  to  those,  whom  it  suits 
"  and  satisfies." 

The  narrow  vision  of  the  writer  could  not  get  beyond  the 
Hebrew  and  Christian  Books  ;  we  know  that  the  same  features 
are  evident  in  the  other  Sacred  Books,  and  that  the  same 
Afflatus  was  distinctly  claimed  for  the  Veda  by  the  Brahmins, 
and,  if  not  claimed  for  the  writings  of  Buddha  and  Kong-Fu- 
Tsee,  it  was  because,  in  a  system,  where  no  God  was  recognised, 
the  word  OeoTrveixno's  could  not  apply,  but  the  presence  of 
something  superhuman  was  recognised  in  the  matter  and  style 
of  the  Books  written. 

The  Holy  Spirit  existed  from  the  time  of  the  Creation  of  the 
World,  striving  with  man  (Genesis,  vi,  3)  long  before  the  Hebrew 
Race  came  into  existence,  and  its  power  cannot  be  limited  by 
time,  clime,  or  Human  conditions.  It  sometimes  has  ap- 
proached an  individual,  as  the  Eunuch  of  Queen  Kandace,  or 
a  family,  such  as  that  of  the  Centurion  Cornelius,  or  an  assembly 
of  holy  persons,  such  as  met  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  or  a 
Nation,  when  they  come  out  and  serve  God.  Its  mode  of 
action  is  not  limited  also :  it  may  come  by  word  of  mouth,  by 
inscribed  tablet,  or  written  document,  by  the  example  of  a  holy 
life,  round  which  the  aureole  of  entire  self-sacrifice  sheds  its 
light,  such  as  the  life  of  Buddha,  who  neither  worked  a  miracle, 
nor  penned  a  line,  or  by  a  stroke  of  affliction,  sickness,  or  death. 
It  may  come  to  the  believer  by  a  dream  in  the  night,  by  a  vision 
in  the  day,  by  a  chance  utterance  overheard  in  a  crowd,  or  a  line 
read  in  some  writing.  Even  so  the  Holy  Spirit  may  humbly 
be  believed  to  have  spoken  to  God's  poor  creatures  made  in 
His  own  image,  endowed  with  a  capacity  of  uttering  articulate 
sounds,  and  congenitally  endowed  with  the  Religious  instinct 
from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  even  as  he  speaks  now  to  man 
in  an  unmistakable  manner,  if  the  din  of  the  world,  the  carnality 
of  the  flesh,  the  careless  state  of  mind,  the  life  of  sinfulness, 
permit  His  poor  creatures  to  hear.  Socrates  was  persuaded, 
that  he  had  a  high  Religious  Mission  to  fulfil,  and  that  a  Divine 
Power,  called  by  him  Ani/[ucu,  controlled  him,  and  no  doubt  his 
feeling  was  a  true  one.     The  Holy  Spirit  was  with  him. 

No  doubt  the  Hindu  has  always  thought,  and  thinks  still, 
that  the  Veda  was  composed  and  written  in  Heaven,  and  com- 
prises all  knowledge,  past,  present,  and  future.  The  INIahometan 
asserts,  that  the  Koran  came  down  from  Heaven  in  its  different 
chapters,  and  is  the  "  kalam  illah,"  the  Word  of  God.  These 
two  Religious  conceptions  are  believed  in  by  Millions  to  the 
present  day.  Want  of  vitality  and  long  life  cannot  be  charged 
against   them :    but   let   us    cast    our   eyes   back  for  some  five 


(       132       ) 

thousand  years,  or  more,  and  read  what  the  mummy-pits  have 
revealed  to  us  : 

"  The  Egyptian  Religion,  which  in  its  wonderful  Book  of  the 
"  Dead  gives  the  oldest,  and  one  of  the  most  trustworthy, 
"  accounts  of  primitive  belief,  expresses  very  clearly  the  hopes 
"  and  fears  of  the  Egyptians  with  reference  to  the  world 
"  beyond  the  grave.  The  Book  of  the  Dead  was  considered  by 
"  the  Egyptians  as  an  inspired  work.  It  is  Thoth  himself,  who 
"  speaks  and  reveals  the  will  of  the  gods,  and  the  mysterious 
"  nature  of  Divine  things  to  man.  Portions  of  the  book  are 
"  expressly  stated  to  have  been  written  by  the  very  finger  of 
"  Thoth,  and  to  have  been  'the  composition  of  a  great  god.' 

"  The  Book  of  the  Dead  gives  us  the  completest  account  of 
"  primitive  belief.  We  learn  from  this  remarkable  book,  that 
"  the  standard  of  morality  among  the  ancient  Egyptians  was 
"  very  high.  '  Not  one  of  the  Christian  virtues,'  writes 
"  Chabas,  *  is  forgotten  in  the  Egyptian  code  :  piety,  charity, 
"  '  gentleness,  self-command  in  word  and  action,  chastity,  the 
"  '  protection  of  the  weak,  benevolence  towards  the  needy, 
"  '  deference  to  superiors,  respect  for  property  in  its  minutest 
"  '  details,'  etc.  It  shows  that  thousands  of  years  before 
"Christ,  the  Egyptians  held  lofty  conceptions  of  the  Deity; 
"  that  they  believed  in  one  God,  self-existent  and  omnipotent ; 
"  and  that  their  moral  ideas  were  of  the  purest  and  best." 

Certain  members  of  the  Christian  Community  choose  to 
attribute  all  the  Sacred  Books  of  Antiquity,  except  those  of 
the  Jews,  to  Satan,  with  whose  habits  and  machinations 
they  are  somehow  or  other  so  familiar  ;  but  the  moral  tone  of 
these  books,  and  occasionally  a  spiritual  light,  must  disabuse 
all  careful  thinkers  of  such  a  notion  :  that  they  should  have 
been  preserved  in  such  different  ways,  and  revealed  to  this 
century  in  such  a  wonderful  manner,  seems  to  mark  the 
presence  of  the  Almighty  in  this  and  in  all  past  ages.  These 
revelations  escaped  the  eyes  of  the  Greeks  and  Latins  in  the 
plenitude  of  their  intellectual  Powers,  and  have  been  made 
known  to  this  generation,  presumably  because  it  is  prepared 
and  qualified  to  make  a  proper  use  of  this  knowledge,  which 
appears  to  justify  the  ways  of  God  to  men. 

The  genuine,  the  abiding,  the  inestimable,  value  of  the 
Sacred  Books,  and  Inscriptions,  however  recorded,  by  men  of 
Ancient  Days  before  the  great  Anno  Domini,  is  sadly  diminished 
by  the  pseudo-halo  flung  round  them,  and  claims  made  on  their 
behalf,  by  one-eyed  pious  men,  who  neither  look  round  the 
world,  nor  can  take  in  the  fact,  that  God  in  sundry  times  and 
divers  manners  spake  to  past  ages,  as  He  speaks  to  us  now. 
These  priceless  survivals  of  men,  whose  names  are  forgotten, 
remind  us,  that  men  were  men  in  those  days  such  as  we  are 


(       133      ) 

now,  that  they  had  reached  a  certain  standard  of  Human 
knowledge,  and  a  consciousness  of  the  existence  of  God. 

The  traditional  conception  of  verbal  or  plenary  Inspiration 
I  reverently  lay  aside  ;  the  men  were  inspired,  not  the  Books. 
It  may  not  be  true,  as  all  will  admit,  with  regard  to  the 
Zoroastrian,  Brahmanical,  or  Mahometan  Books :  this  is 
admitted,  because  no  one  in  Europe  believes  in  those  Religious 
conceptions;  but  ^  priori  it  is  just  as  reasonable  a  theory, 
that  the  Ruler  of  the  Universe  should  make  himself  known 
to  the  Millions  of  East  Asia  as  to  the  tiny  tribes  of  the 
Hebrews.  Such  notions  do  not  belong  to  the  present  Epoch  ; 
we  do  not  believe  things  because  they  come  down  to  us  as 
our  inheritance  from  a  credulous  age.  Professor  Sandey,  in 
his  Bampton-Lecture,  1892,  p.  424,  sums  up  the  argument 
with  great  caution :  let  us  think  it  out :  the  Old  Testament 
consists  of  39  books,  which  are  admitted  by  Hebrew  and 
Christian  authorities  to  belong  to  dates  betwixt  800  B.C.  and 
350  B.C.,  or  even  later.  The  books  of  the  Apocrypha  may  date 
as  far  down  as  10  a.d.  :  they  relate  to  different  subjects,  some 
of  the  highest  possible  interest  to  Human  conception,  some 
to  mere  traditions,  misconceptions,  or  positive  inaccuracies. 
Centuries  ago  allegory  was  allowed  full  play:  that  license  is 
no  longer  allowed;  we  accept  words  in  the  meaning,  which 
they  are  shown  to  bear,  and  one  meaning  only,  and  no  more: 
all  beyond  is  mere  pious  trifling. 

Admitting  that  we  have  a  fairly  correct  text,  which  is  at  once 
an  assumption,  and  a  reminder,  that  our  treasure  is  in  earthen 
vessels,  the  Human  conception  of  sounds,  words,  and  sentences, 
the  treacherous  pitfalls  of  dialects,  and  Written  Characters,  the 
quicksands  of  copyist,  and  editorial,  license  ;  we  have  to  dis- 
criminate the  passages  which  are  totally  void  of  Inspiration, 
from  those  with  different  degrees  of  Inspiration,  remembering 
that  no  Prophecy  is  of  private  interpretation,  and  that  it  is 
not  legitimate,  or  even  honest,  to  read  into  passages  with  an 
obvious  meaning  the  thoughts  of  subsequent  generations  and 
centuries. 

We  cannot  read  a  line  even  of  the  Prophet  Isaiah  without 
feeling,  that  we  are  dealing  with  Human,  very  Human, 
sentences,  words,  and  Ideas :  we  see  a  great  deal  of  ex- 
aggeration, grossness  of  expression,  illustrations  void  of  good 
taste,  gross  ignorance  of  Geography,  History,  and  Physical 
Science. 

The  non-Christian  Sacred  Books  must  be  submitted  to  the 
same  criticism  :  to  say  that  they  were  intentional  falsehoods 
is  to  fall  into  the  same  manifest  error,  as  the  one  complained 
of  above,  but  there  will  be  found  a  residuum,  which  carries  in 
itself    a    plain    testimony,    that    the    Message    is    more    than 


(       134       ) 

Human,  not  necessarily  prediction,  but  advice,  warning, 
promises.  Prediction  is  not  the  true,  or  only,  meaning  of  the 
word  Prophecy.  In  the  Edict  of  Cyrus  (II  Chronicles,  xxxvi,  22) 
we  read,  "Thus  saith  Cyrus  the  king"  ;  in  the  Behistun  tablets 
every  verse  begins,  "  Darius  the  king  said  "  :  it  was  a  common 
form.  In  some  Meetings  certain  Sects  commence  their 
remarks  with  a  conventional  phrase:  "the  Spirit  moves  me." 
Stress  cannot  be  laid  on  the  repetition  by  the  Prophets  of 
the  words,  "  The  Lord  said  "  ;  it  is  repeated  too  often  to  have 
any  evidential  value.  When  Paul,  five  centuries  later,  used 
analogous  expressions,  he  carefully  distinguishes  what  the  Holy 
Spirit  had  taught  him  to  say,  from  the  thoughts  and  words, 
which  were  based  on  his  own  Human  experience. 

There  is  also  another  reason  why  a  Divine  Afflatus  is  always 
claimed  by  the  announcers  of  a  new  Religious  conception,  or 
a  new  departure  in  an  old  one,  for  each  enthusiast  desires  to 
cut  all  connection  with  the  Past,  and  gives  out  that  he  has  a 
new  Heaven-sent  Revelation  to  bring:  so  did  Buddha,  so  twelve 
centuries  later  Mahomet,  so  the  mediaeval  Saints,  or  Apostles  of 
Rome,  so  the  Mormonite,  and  Theosophist  of  this  period,  John 
Smith,  and  Madame  Blavaski.  The  same  necessity  presses  on 
all,  who  attempt  to  deal  with  matters  of  Faith,  which  is 
not  seen. 

In  I  Chronicles,  xxviii,  19,  we  read  with  astonishment  the 
following  words  :  "  All  this,  said  David,  the  Lord  made  me 
understand  in  writing  by  His  hand  upon  me,  even  all  the  works 
of  this  pattern." 

The  Septuagint  renders  it  thus  : 

"  eV   7/'«0'/   %e'/>os   Kvpiov. 

Archdeacon  Farrar  in  the  Expositor's  Bible,  I  Kings,  p.  150, 
calls  this  "  a7t  amazing  hyperbole"  :  it  is  just  what  the  Hindu  and 
Mahometan  claim  for  their  Scriptures.  The  Chronicler  lived 
seven  hundred  years  after  the  death  of  David.  The  destruction 
of  Jerusalem  and  the  long  Exile  had  taken  place  intermediately. 
Those,  who  argue  for  plenary  Inspiration,  must  consider  what 
an  abyss  of  Human  possibilities,  and  insufficiencies,  they  have 
to  span  :  a  chain  is  not  stronger  than  the  weakest  link,  and  we 
have  all  the  links  of  tradition,  evidence  in  every  stage,  dangers 
to  which  all  writings  are  exposed.  Admitted  that  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  still  speaks  to  man's  Soul. in  present  days,  as  in 
years  gone  by;  admitted  that  Miracles  were  performed  in  the 
years,  which  elapsed  betwixt  Moses  and  the  date  of  the  taking 
of  Jerusalem  by  Titus,  in  one  narrow  strip  of  land  in  Asia,  and 
there  and  there  only  :  we  have  still  to  depend  on  the  Record 
of  these  wonderful  events :  and  this  is  the  weakest  link. 


(       135       ) 

The  Hindu  and  Mahometan  got  over  the  difficulty,  and 
declared,  that  the  Veda  and  Koran  were  composed  and  written 
in  Heaven,  and  are  independent  of  all  Human  agencies.  We 
do  not  assert  that,  but  trust  our  faith  to  the  dogma,  that  God 
spoke  by  His  Prophets,  and  they  made  use  of  their  material 
environment  to  communicate  the  word  of  God,  dabar  Yahveh,  to 
future  generations. 

It  is  all  very  well  for  a  Pope,  who  declares  himself  to  be 
Infallible,  to  cry  out:  "Semper,  Ubique,  ab  omnibus":  these 
words  did  very  well  for  the  Middle  Ages:  they  knew  nothing 
of  History:  this  qualified  "Semper";  they  knew  nothing  of 
Geography,  which  took  away  the  meaning  of  "Ubique";  and 
they  had  no  conception  of  the  population  of  the  world,  so 
there  was  absolutely  no  meaning  in  "  ab  omnibus,"  unless 
they  meant  their  own  precious  selves :  all  this  is  known  now. 

F.  Ble?)tishes  in  literary  style  of  the  Books. 

In  all  the  Sacred  Books  there  are  the  great  blemishes  of 
vague  terms,  poetical  expressions,  phrases  capable  of  ambiguous 
interpretation,  or  from  which  no  meaning  can  be  extracted  at 
all,  gross  and  filthy  stories,  introduced  for  no  purpose.  It 
appears  sometimes,  as  if  the  writer  did  not  clearly  know  what 
he  wished  to  say,  or  that  his  amanuensis  had  misunderstood 
him,  or  copyists  had  corrupted  the  Text.  This  gave  scope  to 
ignorant,  and  sensational,  readers  of  after  ages  to  make  private 
interpretations  to  suit  their  own  views,  and  to  import  into  the 
Text  imaginary  allusions,  and  unjustifiable  deductions.  Clearly 
none  of  the  Sacred  Books,  without  exception,  form  any  sure 
base  for  History. 

No  impartial  observer  can  fail  to  remark,  that  there  is  a  strain 
of  exaggeration  running  through  the  whole,  and  that  there 
were  none  of  the  salutary  checks  of  Criticism,  and  Reviews : 
temptations  are  idealized  into  a  personal  evil  spirit,  called 
Satan,  and  a  thought  suggested  to  the  Soul  is  magnified  into 
a  Heavenly  INIessage  ;  the  phraseology  is  often  most  lax,  the 
figures  of  speech  most  unsuitable :  why  is  Idolatry  described 
so  often  in  the  Hebrew  Books  as  "  whoredom,"  to  which 
sin  it  can  have  no  possible  relation  or  resemblance  ?  Ample 
allowance  must  be  made  for  exaggeration,  poetical  phrases, 
the  excited  state  of  the  writer,  the  credulity  of  the  people, 
and  the  sheer  ignorance  both  of  writer  and  reader :  modern 
thought  is  more  logical  ;  modern  experience  is  more  accurate. 

Take,  for  instance,  a  verse  which  appears  twice  in  the  Old 
Testament,  the  last  verse  of  the  last  chapter  of  II  Chronicles, 
and  the  second  verse  of  the  first  chapter  of  Ezra: 


(       136       ) 

"  Thus  saith  Cyrus,  King  of  Persia,  the  Lord  God  of  Heaven 
hath  given  me  the  Kingdoms  of  the  Earth."  We  remark  here, 
first,  that  the  Hebrews  admit,  when  it  suited  them,  that  the  Ruler 
of  the  Universe  made  communications  to  Zoroastrians,  and 
that  Zoroastrians  recognised  such  communications  ;  secondly, 
that  Cyrus  speaks  as  Lord  of  the  Kingdoms  of  the  Earth.  What 
would  the  Sovereigns  of  India  and  the  Extreme  Orient  of  the 
time  have  said  to  this  claim  of  universal  Sovereignty  ?  We  know 
that  Egypt  was  not  conquered  till  the  time  of  Cambyses, 
successor  to  Cyrus,  and  that  Greece  was  never  conquered  by 
Darius,  the  successor  to  Cambyses.  Rome  would  have  laughed 
even  then  at  the  idea  of  being  subject  to  Persia :  in  fact,  it 
was  gross  exaggeration ;  it  must  be  admitted,  that  many 
utterances  cannot  be  taken  in  their  strict  verbal  meaning. 

People  write  about  the  peculiarities  of  Oriental  Nations : 
they  do  exist,  but  at  present  not  to  the  extent  to  which  they 
once  existed.  It  is  impossible  to  avoid  seeing,  that  the  Sacred 
Books  of  the  East  were  written  in  an  exaggerated,  hyperbolic, 
and  highly  poetic,  style  which  would  be  impossible  in  the 
present  time.  The  importance  of  the  Kingdom,  and  the  wealth, 
greatness,  and  worth,  of  its  Sovereign,  the  size  of  his  armies, 
the  number  of  men  killed  in  battles,  are  quite  beyond  the 
control  of  Criticism.  The  whole  Earth  is  spoken  of  by 
persons,  who  had  the  most  limited  knowledge  of  Geography; 
appeals  are  made  to  History  by  persons,  who  knew  no 
History,  and  had  no  standard  of  comparison. 

The  Sovereign  of  Egypt,  seated  on  the  throne  of  Horus, 
claimed  authority  over  all  the  Nations  of  the  world.  "  All 
Nations  are  subject  to  me,"  said  Queen  Hatasu  on  her  great 
obelisk  at  Karnak ;  "  God  has  handed  over  the  whole  circuit 
of  the  Sun  to  me"  (Renouf:  Hibbert-Lectures,  p.  162).  Egypt 
was  a  great,  rich,  conquering  Power,  which  lasted  for  centuries, 
and  was  able  to  raise  up  Monuments,  which  will  last  all  time ; 
still  it  used  such  rhodomontade,  and  similar  expressions  are 
used  with  regard  to  Solomon's  petty  Kingdom,  which  broke  in 
half  after  his  death. 

No  doubt  Poetical  rhapsody  is  the  cause  of  much  exaggeration 
of  expression  :  the  ideal  is  seized,  and  intertwined  with  all  that 
is  the  tribal,  and  national,  and  domestic,  tradition  of  the  past, 
becomes  amplified,  and  egoistic  national  pride  caused  it  to 
grow  from  generation  to  generation  :  the  Hebrew  really 
believed  that  Solomon  was  a  great  and  powerful  king :  we  can 
see  clearly,  that  he  was  only  a  petty  Rajah,  who  would  not  have 
been  thought  much  of  in  India  in  past  or  present  times,  as  his 
territory  was  so  small,  and  his  resources  so  limited  by  the 
poverty  of  his  country. 

The  account  of  the  death  of  Buddha,  as  given  in  the  Pitaka 


(      137      ) 

(Journal  of  R.A.S.,  N.s.,  vii,  viii),  seems  much  exaggerated  : 
long  sermons  are  ascribed  to  Buddha  in  extreme  old  age  just 
before  he  died  :  they  were  probably  composed  by  the 
Chronicler,  and  included  much,  that  was  said  in  former  years 
rather  than  at  that  time:  the  facts  are  no  doubt  true:  we  see 
an  analogy  in  this  in  the  three  chapters  of  teaching  introduced 
by  John  the  Evangelist  into  the  narrative  of  the  Last  Supper, 
which  are  not  alluded  to  by  the  Synoptists. 

When  Krishna  was  in  the  chariot  with  A'rjuna,  he  bade  his 
companion  look  into  his  throat,  and  there  he  saw  the  whole 
world,  all  mankind.  Heaven,  and  all  the  gods.  The  same  may 
be  said  of  the  Incriptions  of  the  Assyrian  and  Babylonian 
IMonarch  :  great  allowance  must  be  made  for  this  feature  in 
ancient  prose,  and  poetical,  literature  of  every  kind,  sacred  or 
profane. 

It  is  difficult  to  realize  the  gross  ignorance  of  Geography, 
Language,  Ethnology,  general  Science,  of  the  Nations  of  that 
time;  and  in  weighing  the  comparative  value  of  their  writings, 
this  element  must  be  considered  :  they  were  credulous  to  an 
enormous  extent :  the  basin  of  the  ^Iediterranean  was  very 
nearly  the  whole  world  to  the  Nations,  which  had  access  to 
it :  two-thirds  of  the  Human  Race  in  India  and  the  extreme 
Orient  were  utterly  unknown  to  the  people  of  Western  Asia, 
and  to  the  people  of  Eastern  Asia  there  was  equal  ignorance 
of  the  Western  Nations :  that  the  Earth  was  a  revolving  globe, 
and  was  not  the  centre  of  the  Universe,  was  of  course  beyond 
their  wildest  conception.  In  estimating  the  value  of  their 
statements  on  the  subjects  of  things  spiritual,  it  must  not  be 
forgotten,  how  grossly  ignorant  the  wisest  of  them  were  of 
things  material. 

Take,  for  instance,  the  characters  of  David  and  Solomon  as 
delineated  in  the  Books  of  Samuel  and  Kings,  written  about 
600  B.C.,  and  the  Book  of  Chronicles,  written  about  350  B.C., 
with  an  interval  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  betwixt  the  two 
periods.  The  intelligence,  the  manners,  the  religious  and  social 
sentiments  of  the  Hebrews,  had  changed ;  all  hope  of  political 
independence,  all  prophetic  visions  and  inspirations,  had  passed 
away,  when  the  nameless  Levite  undertook  to  write  an  account 
of  the  Hebrew  Nation,  commencing  with  Adam  and  ending  with 
Cyrus,  the  king  of  Persia,  a  period  of  3500  years  according 
to  Archbishop  Usher,  and  of  8000  years  according  to  all 
reasonable  inductions  from  actual  facts  of  Egyptian  and 
Mesopotamian  History. 

We  have  only  to  imagine  the  Chaplain  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  or  a  minor  Canon  of  St.  Paul's,  undertaking 
to  write  the  History  of  the  Church  in  Britain  from  the  days 
of  the  foundation  of  the  City  of  Rome  till  now.     The  Levite 


(       138       ) 

could  only  draw  on  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  Jews,  as  he 
saw  ihem  :  he  had  formed  high  idealistic  conceptions  of  David 
as  the  warrior  king,  and  Solomon  as  the  philosopher  king,  of 
Israel ;  he  had  no  idea  of  the  size  of  the  great  world,  of  the 
Millions  of  India  and  China,  of  the  wealth  there  accumulated. 
The  Kings  of  Israel  were  of  about  the  same  calibre  as  the  Kings 
of  Kashmir,  with  little  or  no  commerce  with  the  outer  world, 
but  maintaining  a  precarious  existence  at  the  mercy  of  the 
Sovereigns  of  the  Kingdoms  of  Egypt  and  Mesopotamia :  yet 
he  describes  them  as  the  most  powerful  and  wealthy  of  all  the 
earth,  "  kul  he  aratz"  (II  Chronicles,  ix,  23):  "And  all  the  kings 
of  the  earth  sought  the  presence  of  Solomon,  to  hear  his 
wisdom"  :  he  was  a  barbarous  Sovereign  of  a  barbarous  people, 
the  son  of  a  king  who  had  risen  from  the  sheep-folds : 
it  is  doubtful,  whether  in  his  reign  the  art  of  writing  alpha- 
betically had  been  attained  either  on  stone,  brick,  parchment, 
or  papyrus  ;  at  any  rate,  the  oldest  survival  of  the  Phenician 
Alphabet  is  200  years  later:  at  the  time  when  the  Kings  of 
Egypt  and  Mesopotamia  were  erecting  Monuments  with  Inscrip- 
tions in  Hieroglyphics,  or  Cuneiform  characters.  King  Solomon 
left  nothing,  nothing  at  all,  most  probably  because  he  was  not 
up  to  that  level  of.  culture,  very  much  as  the  Afghan  Chiefs 
of  the  Indian  frontier  at  the  present  moment  are  not  abreast 
with  the  culture  of  their  neighbours  Russia  and  British  India, 
otherwise  his  Egyptian  wife  might  have  enabled  him  to  do 
something,  and  his  friend,  King  Hiram  of  Tyre,  in  whose 
dominions  the  Alphabetic  Character  was  being  worked  out 
about  that  period,  would  have  supplied  skilled  lapidary 
workmen. 

The  Levite,  who  wrote  the  Chronicles,  assumes,  that  David 
wrote  the  Psalms,  and  Solomon  the  books  attributed  to  him  : 
this  may  be  questioned.  The  Levite  had  arrived  at  a  standard 
of  holiness,  outward  holiness,  to  which  neither  David  nor 
Solomon  reached  :  he  shrank  from  recapitulating  the  assassina- 
tions, which  took  place  by  the  order  of  King  Solomon,  according 
to  the  last  testament  of  his  father  King  David  ;  he  makes  no 
allusion  to  their  gross  immoralities,  and  the  very  name  of 
Bathsheba,  the  wife  of  Uriah,  is  not  totidem  verbis  mentioned  : 
Solomon  is  described  as  having  only  one  wife,  because  the 
Jews  on  their  return  from  exile  had  become  strictly 
monogamist,  and  the  idea  of  a  harem  would  have  been  as 
offensive  to  the  Levite,  as  to  a  Clergyman  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century.  How  unfortunate  for  these  two  Kings  it  has  been, 
that  the  two  Books  of  Samuel  and  Kings  did  not  go  the  way 
of  the  Chronicles  of  the  Kings  of  Judah,  and  the  Book  of 
the  War,  and  the  Book  of  Jasher,  and  the  other  Hebrew 
Documents    of  the  pre-Exilic  period,  which   perished  in  that 


(       139       ) 

great    catastrophe.      How    different    would    have    been    their 
characters  ! 

Supposing  that  we  were  now  on  the  same  intellectual  and 
literary  platform  as  the  Levite,  who  wrote  the  Chronicles,  and  a 
Protestant  Levite  of  an  amiable  and  holy  character  and  life, 
but  devoid  of  any  sense  of  historical  truth,  were  to  undertake  to 
write  the  Chronicles  of  King  Henry  VHI  of  E!ngland  :  the 
writer  would  no  doubt  idealize  the  King,  who  broke  the  bonds 
of  Rome,  would  omit  all  allusion  to  his  brutal  treatment  of  his 
wives,  his  judicial  murder  of  several  of  his  most  noble  subjects, 
his  confiscation  of  Church-property,  and  distribution  of  it  among 
his  favourites  :  he  would  be  painted  as  an  able  and  patriotic  and 
wise  king,  who  did  his  country  excellent  service  :  his  crimes 
were  such  as  would  be  deemed  impossible  in  the  Victorian  Era, 
and  the  pious  Chronicler  could  not  imagine  his  ideal  hero 
acting  in  any  other  way  than  as  a  noble  Christian  :  the  Hebrew 
Chronicler  has  depicted  David  and  Solomon  with  the  same 
sympathetic,  but  strangely  untrue,  manner,  if  the  Books  of 
Samuel  and  Kings  are  to  be  trusted. 


2.  Oral:    Tradition. 

It  is  difficult  to  define  the  boundary,  which  divides  History 
as  a  Science,  from  Legend,  of  the  Family,  of  the  Nation,  and 
of  the  Religion.  Even  in  this  hard  matter  of  fact  age  men 
treasure  up  as  quasi-truths,  Reports  complimentary  to  their 
Families,  their  Country,  and  falling  in  with  their  Religious 
conceptions  ;  but  it  is  Faith,  not  evidence,  on  which  they 
rely;  such  Legends  relate  generally  to  a  remote  and  obscure 
past.  The  modern  Legend  is  merely  told  without  regard  to 
exactness,  but  the  banders  down  of  the  old  Legends  were  men 
honest  and  good,  worthy  of  our  respect,  but  unskilled  in  the 
law  of  evidence,  and  very  credulous.  How  often  we  hear 
people  dilate  on  the  beauty,  talents,  and  piety,  of  their  great 
grandmother,  or  of  some  remote  ancestor !  How  from  time  to 
time  springs  up  a  National  Hero,  decked  in  feathers  not  his 
own  1  My  remark  may  seem  cynical,  but  the  fact  is.  Truth 
and  Untruth  are  hopelessly  blended ;  there  is  a  residuum  of 
Truth  in  most  narratives  forming  a  base  for  large  romantic 
developments.  We  see  it  in  a  marked  degree,  where  Religious 
fervour,  and  holy  men  and  women,  are  concerned.  The 
number  of  believers  in  the  Legend  is  no  argument ;  so  much 
the  worse  for  the  Truth,  when  all  believe  in  it,  and  it  bears  in 
itself  the  unmistakable  evidence  of  Falsehood.  We  must  place 
it  reverently  aside,  especially  when  it  comes  to  us  as  a  legacy 


(       HO       ) 

from  men  in  an  early  state  of  low  culture ;  it  might  have 
developed  into  a  great  Legend,  and  been  honoured  by  an  epic 
poem.  The  raw  material  has  reached  us,  and  we  must  not 
despise  it;  we  trace  it  back  to  a  simple-minded  period,  very 
credulous,  very  ignorant  of  the  world,  delighting  in  the 
marvellous,  full  of  reverence  to  their  ancestors,  and  the  great 
unknown  Power,  ready  to  believe  anything;  the  more  marvellous 
the  more  acceptable. 

Professor  Max  MUller  remarks  on  the  Myths  and  Songs  of 
the  South  Pacific  :  "  They  contain  much,  that  will  deeply 
"  interest  all  those,  who  have  learned  to  sympathize  with  the 
"  childhood  of  the  world,  and  have  not  forgotten,  that  the 
"child  is  father  to  the  man;  much,  that  will  startle  those, 
"  who  think  that  metaphysical  conceptions  are  incompatible 
"with  downright  savagery;  much,  that  will  comfort  those, 
"  who  hold,  that  God  has  not  left  Himself  without  a  witness 
"  even  among  the  lowest  outcasts  of  the  Human  Race." 

"  The  sentiments  [of  the  Vedic  Hymns]  are  childlike,  the  first 
"  sobbing  and  plaintive  cry  of  the  Human  family  to  their  Great 
"  Father,  who  made  them,  and  to  Nature  and  the  Elements, 
"  the  great  Mother,  who  nourished  them."  This  was  their 
great  environment.  (R.  N.  Gust :  Linguistic  and  Oriental 
Essays,  Series  I,  p.   no,  1878.) 

In  all  countries,  irrespective  of,  and  independent  of,  the 
Religious  belief  of  the  inhabitants.  Legends  have  been  handed 
down  of  the  origin  of  the  Globe,  and  of  Mankind.  Nearly 
every  country  has  a  Legend  of  the  Deluge,  localized  to  their 
topographical  features  of  mountain  and  lake,  and  coloured 
to  suit  the  intellectual  idiosyncrasy  of  each  population.  The 
Legends  current  in  India  have  long  been  well-known,  but  the 
late  discoveries  in  Mesopotamia  go  behind  the  earliest  accepted 
dates  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  revelations  of  Geology 
pierce  behind  still  further.  We  are  on  an  inclined  plane  here, 
and  cannot  stop.  Virgil,  in  a  few  lines  in  the  i^neid,  VI,  724, 
undertakes  to  record  the  current  views  on  this  subject  in  the 
Augustan  age. 

Myths  resemble  the  fogs,  which  are  exhaled  in  a  damp 
neighbourhood  ;  they  are  not,  however,  to  be  despised.  Myths 
surrounded  the  infancy  of  Sargon,  the  first  king  of  Babylonia,  of 
Cyrus,  king  of  Persia,  and  of  Buddha;  it  was  the  usual 
symptom  of  Oriental  flattery,  and  credulity.  Sargon  was  born 
of  an  unknown  father,  like  Romulus,  William  the  Conqueror, 
and  many  others ;  in  the  Middle  Ages  Divine  Ancestry  was 
not  claimed.  Enclosed  in  a  boat,  like  Danae  and  Perseus, 
and  Moses,  the  Euphrates  refused  to  drown  young  Sargon. 
Had  they  lived  an  obscene  life,  we  should  have  heard  nothing 
of  these  interesting  details.     So  many  Princes,  who  died  young, 


(       HI       ) 

have  been  glorified,  like  young  Marcellus  in  the  ^Eneid  ;   had 
they  lived  on,  they  might  have  developed  into  a  Nero. 

The  author  of  the  "  Unknown  God,"  Mr.  Loring  Brace, 
p.  109,  remarks  as  follows: 

"  The  position  of  such  deep  thinkers  as  Socrates  and  Plato, 
"  in  regard  to  Greek  Mythology,  was  peculiar.  It  was  not 
"  unlike  that  of  some  rationalistic  Scholars  of  this  day  towards 
"  the  Supernaturalism  of  Christianity.  Myths  were  the  poetic 
"  revelations  of  great  Religious  facts:  the  essential  in  them  was 
"eternally  true;  the  form  imaginary  and  temporary:  Socrates 
"  and  Plato  would  not  rudely  overthrow  even  the  form  :  it  was 
"  intertwined  with  morality  and  devoutness,  and  should  there- 
"  fore  be  carefully  handled :  they  recognised  the  popular 
"  INIythology,  and  used  it  for  their  great  moral  purposes,  only 
"  half-believing  it,  and  yet  extracting  from  it  Truths,  which 
"  were  everlasting.  But,  wherever  the  Myths  represented  the 
"  gods  as  acting  contrary  to  the  Eternal  Principles  of  Morality, 
"  they  did  not  hesitate  to  say,  that  they  were  false." 

Legends  come  down  to  us  of  Buddha,  not  in  one  universally 
recognised  book,  but  in  various  narratives  in  different  countries 
and  Languages.  He  descended  of  his  own  accord,  600  B.C., 
into  his  Mother's  womb :  at  his  birth  Heaven  and  Earth 
paid  their  homage ;  Angels  sang  songs  of  Victory.  His 
Mother  was  the  best  and  purest  of  women,  and  had  no 
other  son  :  his  conception  took  place  without  the  instru- 
mentality of  his  father:  he  taught  his  teachers:  aged  Saints 
paid  him  honour.  He  had  a  great  struggle  to  free  himself 
from  the  bondage  of  this  world.  Devils  came  to  try  him, 
and  fight  him ;  the  powers  of  Nature  were  convulsed  : 
meteors  fell ;  darkness  prevailed,  as  the  Sun  was  obscured  ;  the 
Earth  with  its  mountains,  and  the  ocean,  were  convulsed  ; 
Earthquakes  took  place,  and  Rivers  flowed  back  to  their  source. 
(Rhys  Davids  :  Buddha,  p.  37.) 

There  is  very  little  scope  for  variety  in  Oriental  imagery : 
something  wonderful  always  takes  place  as  regards  the  con- 
ception, or  the  actual  birth,  and  the  same  natural  phenomena 
are  reported  in  most  striking  Language  in  the  Ramayana,  when 
Sita  was  carried  off  from  her  husband  Rama:  I  know  nothing 
so  beautiful  in  any  Epic  in  any  Language,  as  portions  of  this 
magnificent  Sanskrit  Poem,  The  beautiful  Epics  in  Greek, 
Latin,  and  the  modern  Languages  of  Europe,  are  left  far 
behind. 

Of  the  extent  to  which  fond  credulity  can  be  indulged,  and 
of  the  crave  of  so-called  Religious  men  to  believe  in  Legends, 
the  Apocryphal  Gospels  of  the  childhood  of  Christ  may  be 
cited  as  an  instance.  In  modern  times  we  know  how  to 
appreciate  an  historical  romance,  such  as  those  of  Sir  Walter 


(       142       ) 

Scott,  or  wonderful  stories  such  as  the  Arabian  Nights,  but  the 
composer,  and  copyist,  of  false  quasi-Religious  stories  seem 
worthy  of  the  highest  reprobation.  The  compilers  of  the 
marvellous  legendary  tales,  which  attached  themselves  to  some 
Christian  Saints,  are  blameable,  but  they  were  only  fondly,  after 
the  manner  of  their  age,  dealing  with  the  incidents  of  lives  of 
their  fellow-men,  but  the  compilers  of  the  Apocryphal  Gospels 
in  attaching  to  the  name  of  Christ  tales,  which  were  palpably 
false,  gave  a  handle,  and  a  good  handle,  to  the  unbeliever  to 
throw  a  doubt  on  the  Gospels. 

Throughout  Antiquity  there  seems  to  have  prevailed  a  desire 
to  trace  back  the  origin  of  illustrious  men  to  the  Deity:  to  this 
day  Rajahs  in  India  will  without  scruple  show  their  pedigrees 
drawn  out  through  a  countless  line  of  ancestors  to  the  Sun  and 
Moon.  In  the  great  Epics  of  Homer  and  Virgil  it  is  thought 
nothing  wonderful  to  state,  that  /Eneas  was  the  son  of  Venus, 
Achilles  of  Thetis,  and  Bacchus  and  Hercules  of  Jupiter. 
Plutarch,  in  his  work  on  Isis  and  Osiris,  remarks,  that  at  the 
birth  of  the  latter  there  were  omens,  which  always  precede  the 
birth  of  Earth's  benefactors  :  a  voice  was  heard  announcing 
"  that  the  Lord  of  all  things  had  stepped  into  light." 

"  ws  o  Trai'Twv  Kvpio's  ea  0(2)?  irporfKOei'. 

(LoRiNG  Brace:   Unknown  God,  1890,  p.  21.) 

"  It  is  a  side  evidence  of  the  spiritual  inspiration  of  ancient 
"  and  barbarous  Races,  that  so  many,  and  in  all  ages,  have  a 
"  tradition  of  a  moral  benefactor  of  the  Race,  who  came  from 
"  above,  bore  Human  ills,  sought  to  scatter  happiness  among 
"  men,  and  perhaps  perished  in  the  struggle  with  evil  among 
"  men  to  appear  again  among  the  stars,  or  to  await  his  faithful 
"  followers  in  the  region  of  the  Blessed.  The  strength,  and 
"  purity,  which  gather  round  such  memories,  are  the  best  test 
"  of  their  reality.  And  even,  if  some  are  only  imaginary,  the 
"  ideal  shows  the  moral  forces  working  on  the  hearts  of  men, 
"  and  the  Truths,  which  had  here  and  there  dawned  upon 
*•  them."    {Ibid.,  p.  4.) 

By  a  singular  chance,  or  more  than  a  chance,  the  great 
Indian  Religious  System  presents  the  conception  of  the  Deity 
attempting  to  save  mankind  by  repeated  incarnations  of  himself 
in  the  form  of  animals  in  the  remote  past,  and,  as  the  centuries 
went  on,  in  the  Human  form  :  in  one  of  the  earliest  Avatara, 
or  Incarnations,  the  Deity  appears  as  a  fish  to  save  man  in  a 
Deluge :  other  animals  succeed :  Purus  Rama  is  the  first 
representative  of  the  Human  Race,  Rama,  the  son  of  Dasaratha, 
the  second,  and  Krishna,  the  third  ;  Gautama  Buddha  is  some- 
times counted  as  the  ninth  and  last,  but  there  is  one  still  to 


(       143      ) 

come,  riding  on  a  horse,  when  the  world  comes  to  an  end. 
The  whole  story  and  character  of  Rama  is  wonderful  in  its 
sublimity  and  grandeur:  the  Son  of  a  King,  who  obeyed  his 
Father's  will,  and  was  endowed  with  the  grace  of  entire  Self- 
Sacrifice,  for  a  given  purpose,  to  save  mankind,  and  conquer  the 
great  enemy  of  mankind.  This  Legend  was  current  long  before 
the  great  Anno  Domini  in  Regions  out  of  touch  with  Palestine. 

In  Graico-Roman  Legends  we  read  of  the  elevation  of  heroes 
to  the  position  of  demi-gods,  for  services  accomplished: 
Hercules,  Romulus,  Castor  and  Pollux,  and  the  flattery  of 
courtiers  added  the  names  of  Emperors,  such  as  Julius  and 
Augustus. 

Still  more  striking  is  the  Legend  of  Prometheus,  \vho  suffered, 
and  suffered  patiently,  because  he  desired  to  benefit  the  Human 
Race ;  the  great  tragedy  of  ^schylus  gives  us  an  idea  of  what 
was  thought  of  him  in  the  palmy  days  of  Athens ;  no  sublimer 
conception  is  handed  down  "to  antiquity,  unequalled  until 
Socrates  calmly  sacrificed  his  life  in  the  interests  of  Virtue  and 
Morality,  and  escaped  the  indignity  of  being  considered  a 
demi-god,  for  he  lived  too  late  to  attain  that  honour,  and  too 
early  to  be  made  a  Saint  of  by  the  Vatican. 

There  was  a  great  deal  of  Poetry  in  the  Mythological  con- 
ception of  antiquity ;  a  Poet  is  a  creator,  Tronpri<s.  Daphne 
unquestionably  means  the  Dawn,  which  ever  seems  to  fly 
from  the  approach  of  Apollo,  the  Sun,  and  dies.  The  laurel 
tree  in  Greek  is  called  cdcpi'T],  and  its  wood  is  most  easy  to 
burn :  this  supplies  ample  materials  for  the  Legend.  King 
Arthur,  Jack  the  Giant-Killer,  and  the  brave  Roland,  have  all 
mounted  the  same  ladder. 


(      H4      ) 


CAP.  VI.     RELIGIOSITY  AND  MORALS. 


1.  Morality. 

2.  Arm  of  the  Flesh. 

3.  Fanaticism. 

4.  Superstition. 

5.  Change  of  Belief. 

I.    IMORALITY. 

Socrates  was  the  first  in  Europe,  who  laid  down  the  maxim, 
that  Morality  was  indispensable  to  Religion.  In  Asia,  Buddha  and 
Kong-Fu-Tsee,  and  some  of  the  Brahmanical  writers,  had  done 
the  same.  The  Christian  standard  was  still  higher:  "Without 
Holiness  no  one  can  see  God."  In  British  India,  in  a  gross 
case  of  immorality  by  a  Hindu,  who  pretended  to  be  an  Incar- 
nation of  the  Deity,  the  Judicial  Courts  laid  down  a  principle, 
that  "nothing  could  be  theologically  right,  which  was  morally 
wrong." 

Nothing  is  more  striking  than  the  entire  disrespect  shown  to 
women  under  the  Hebrew  dispensation :  gross  Polygamy  and 
Concubinage  were  practised  by  David  and  Solomon,  of  an 
unlimited  kind,  compared  to  which  the  Hindu,  and  Mahometan, 
appear  self-  controlled.  The  slaughter  of  all  the  brothers 
(II  Chron.  xxi.  4)  of  the  reigning  Sovereign  was  a  very  ordinary 
expedient  to  get  rid  of  possible  rivals :  a  contempt  of  Human 
life,  and  suffering.  Saul's  widows  were  handed  over  to  his 
son-in-law  to  be  concubines,  and  the  Prophet  Nathan  seems 
not  to  have  disapproved  of  it:  the  marriage  of  brother  and 
sister  seems  to  have  been  possible  (II  Samuel,  xiii,  13):  as  to 
any  marriage  ceremony,  so  important  with  the  Hindu,  it  was 
not  even  thought  of:  he  appropriated  her,  as  if  she  had  been 
a  domestic  animal,  or  a  beast  of  burden.  When  her  husband 
had  been  killed,  David  fetched  Bathsheba  to  his  house,  and 
she  became  his  wife,  and  the  mother  of  the  heir  to  the  throne : 
he  had  done  the  same  thing  to  Abigail,  the  widow  of  Nabal.  No 
Sultan  of  a  Mahometan  Kingdom  could  have  been  more  un- 
controlled by  Morality.     The  Gentile  world  appears  to  advantage 


(       145       ) 

in  the  following  quotation  :  "  The  superior  man  will  watch  over 
"  himself,  when  he  is  alone:  are  you  free  from  shame  in  your 
"  own  room,  when  you  are  exposed  only  to  the  light  of  Heaven  ?  " 
Kong-Fu-Tsee  in  the  She-King  (Sacred  Anthology,  p.  286). 

I   add   the    following  quotation  from  the  Dhammapada,    as 
illustrative  of  Buddhist  JNIorality,  550  B.C.: 

"  '  He  abused  me,  he  beat  me,  he  defeated  me,  he  robbed 

me ' :  hatred  in  those,  who  harbour  such  thoughts,  will  never 

cease. 

"  '  He  abused  me,  he  beat  me,  he  defeated  me,  he  robbed 

me ' :   hatred   in   those,  who   do   not  harbour  such   thoughts, 

will  cease. 

"  For  hatred  does  not  cease  by  hatred  at  any  time ;   hatred 

ceases  by  love :    this  is  an  old  rule. 

"  Do  not  have  evil-doers  for  friends,  do  not  have  low  people  : 

have   virtuous   people  for  friends,  have   for  friends  the   best 

of  men. 

'•  All    men    tremble    at    punishment,    all    men    fear    death : 

remember    that    you    are    like    them,    and    do    not    kill,    nor 

cause  slaughter. 

"  Do  not  speak  harshly  to  anybody ;   those,  who  are  spoken 

to,   will  answer    thee    in    the    same   way.      Angry   speech    is 

painful ;    blows  for  blows  will  touch  thee. 

"  By  oneself  the  evil   is  done,   by  oneself  one  suffers ;    by 

oneself  evil  is  left  undone,  by  oneself  one  is  purified.     Purity 

and  impurity  belong  to  oneself;  no  one  can  purify  another. 

"  Better  than  sovereignty  over  the  earth,  better  than  going 

to  Heaven,  better  than  lordship  over  the  worlds,  is  the  reward 

of  the  first  step  in  Holiness. 

"  Not  to  commit  any  sin,  to  do  good,   and  to   purify  one's 

mind,  that  is  the  teaching  of  the  Awakened  (Buddha). 

"  Let  a  man  overcome  anger  by  love,  let  him  overcome  evil 

by  good ;  let  him  overcome  the  greedy  by  liberality,  the  liar 

by  truth  ! 

'*  Many  men  whose  shoulders   are   covered  with   the  orange 

gown  {i.e.,  are  priests)  are  ill-conditioned  and  unrestrained ; 

such  evil-doers  by  their  evil  deeds  go  to  hell. 

"  A  man  does  not  become  a  Brahmana  by  his  plaited  hair, 

by   his    family,    or   by   both ;    in    whom   there    is    truth    and 

righteousness,  he  is  blessed,  he  is  a  Brahmana. 

"  What  is  the  use  of  plaited  hair,  O  fool !  what  of  the  raiment 

of  goatskins  .-^     Within  thee  there  is  ravening,  but  the  outside 

thou  makest  clean. 

"  He,    who    is    free    from    anger,    dutiful,    virtuous,    without 

weakness,  and  subdued,  who  has  received  his  last  body,  him 

I  call  indeed  a  Brahmana. 

"  He,  who  is  tolerant  with  the  intolerant,  mild  with   fault- 


(       H6      ) 

"  finders,  free  from  passion  among  the  passionate,  him  I  call 
"  indeed  a  Brahmana." 

In  the  Sanskrit  Bhagavadgita  we  find  the  following  description 
of  the  Friend  of  God  (Sacred  Anthology,  p.  59): 

"  He,  my  servant,  is  dear  to  me,  who  is  free  from  emnity,  the 
"  friend  of  all  Nature,  merciful,  exempt  from  pride  and  selfish- 
"  ness,  the  same  in  pain  and  pleasure,  exempt  from  wrongs, 
"  contented,  constantly  devout,  of  subdued  passions,  and  firm 
"  resolves.  He,  my  servant,  is  dear  to  me,  who  is  unexpecting, 
"  just,  and  pure,  impartial,  free  from  distraction  of  mind  ;  who  is 
"  the  same  in  friendship  and  hatred,  in  honour  and  dishonour; 
"  who  is  unsolicitous  about  the  event  of  things  ;  to  whom  praise 
"  and  blame  are  as  one  ;  who  is  of  little  speed,  pleased  with 
"  whatever  cometh  to  pass,  and  who  is  of  a  steady  mind." 

"  The  triumph  of  Right  over  Wrong  in  speech  and  action 
"  (for  the  same  word  means  Truth  and  Justice)  is  the  burden 
"  of  nine-tenths  of  the  Egyptian  Texts,  which  have  come  down 
"  to  us.  In  the  famous  Monument  of  the  Egyptian  Harps  the 
"  Inscription  was :  '  Mind  thee  of  the  day,  when  thou  shalt 
"  '  start  for  the  land,  to  which  one  goeth  to  return  not  thence. 
"  '  Good  for  thee  will  have  been  a  good  life  ;  therefore  be  just, 
•'  '  and  hate  iniquity,  for  he,  who  loveth  what  is  Right,  shall 
"  '  triumph.' 

"  We  do  not  believe  the  words  of  an  Inscription,  telling  the 
"  praises  of  the  deceased,  but  we  must  believe  the  Idea  of 
"  Morality  prescribed.  None  of  the  Christian  virtues  are 
"  forgotten  in  it :  piety,  charity,  gentleness,  self-command  in 
"  word  and  deed,  chastity,  the  protection  of  the  weak, 
"  benevolence  towards  the  humble,  deference  to  superiors, 
"  respect  for  property :  all  this  is  expressed  in  extremely  good 
"  Language  on  Egyptian  tombs."     (Renouf :   Hibbert-Lecture, 

As  long  as  a  Religious  conception  does  more  good  than 
harm,  and  a  standard  of  Morality  is  retained,  the  wise  man 
would  let  the  people  alone ;  but  too  often  a  Religious  con- 
ception wastes  away,  and  dies,  in  an  atmosphere  of  hideous 
immorality.  Lucretius  boldly  writes  as  a  comment  on  the 
Sacrifice  of  his  daughter  by  Agamemnon  : 

"  Tantum  religio  potuit  suadere  malorum." 

And  in  India  we  have  learnt  lately  another  lesson :  it  may  be 
doubted,  whether  the  Indian  youth,  educated  in  the  State- 
Colleges,  and  thoroughly  purged  of  belief  in  any  of  the  moral 
sanctions  of  their  forefathers,  are  not  less  well  prepared  for  a 
decent  moral  control  of  life  than  his  uneducated  contemporary. 


(      H7      ) 

2.  Arm  of  the  Flesh. 

Under  this  head  come  Propagation  of  Religion  by  force  of  arms, 
Intolerance,  Persecution,  Spoliation,  Excommunication,  Civil 
Disabilities,  Murder,  Torture,  Burying  alive :  all  these  atrocities 
performed  in  the  name  of  Religion  by  the  help  of  the  party 
in  power.  The  Books  of  Kings  and  Chronicles  tell  us  how 
in  that  little  country,  occupied  by  the  twelve  tribes,  the  will 
of  the  King  for  the  time  being  went  for  everything :  Hezekiah 
succeeded  Ahaz,  he  was  followed  by  Manasseh,  and  the  latter 
by  Josiah ;  up  and  down  went  the  Altars  of  Baal,  and  the 
groves  ;  of  course  the  Historians  take  the  part  of  the  so-called 
good  Kings,  and  are  loud  in  their  abuse  of  the  so-called  bad 
ones,  one  of  whom  was  only  eight  years  old,  and  reigned  three 
months,  but  they  have  all  one  feature  in  common,  they  killed 
all  those,  who  differed  from  them:  if  Jezebel  killed  the  Prophets, 
Jehu  killed  the  Priests  ;  there  was  an  absolute  want  of  tolerance  : 
Jehu's  slaughter  of  the  Priests  of  Baal,  and  the  relatives  of 
Ahab,  is  the  most  abominable  of  all  :  the  Church  of  Rome  cries 
out  at  the  least  sign  of  Persecution,  but  Rome  was  a  master 
of  the  art  of  Persecution,  and  appears  quite  ready  to  do  so 
again,  if  chance  offered. 

"  Quis  tulerit  Gracchos  de  seditione  querentes  ?" 

Some  of  the  sufferers  in  the  reign  of  Diocletian  became  in 
their  old  age,  under  Constantino,  the  bitterest  persecutors 
themselves.  It  is  an  astounding  fact,  how  Religious  people 
forget  all  Ideas  of  Mercy,  Justice,  and  Pity,  towards  those,  who 
differ  from  themselves  in  some  abstract  dogma,  or  ceremonial 
practice,  or  even  of  the  date  of  a  feast-day.  Men  of  the 
present  Epoch  have  all  the  will  to  persecute,  but  lack  the  power: 
the  dead  weight  of  Atheism,  Agnosticism,  Indiflferentism,  renders 
any  personal  persecution  impossible,  but  social,  professional, 
domestic,  persecution  is  still  rampant. 

In  China,  460  Literati  were  buried  alive  by  one  of  the 
Emperors  on  account  of  some  difTerence  of  doctrine  ;  in  Egypt, 
a  King  Khuen-Atin  persecuted  those,  who  would  not  join  him 
in  worshipping  the  disk  of  the  Sun,  and,  when  he  died,  his 
followers  suffered  the  same  treatment. 

"  No  Religious  conceptions  are  so  hard  to  reconcile,  or  to 
"  find  a  working  compromise,  as  those,  which  outwardly  present 
"  the  greatest  similarity  to  each  other.  The  Sun  was  the 
"  object  of  Worship  to  many  ancient  Nations,  and  resolved  into 
"  a  triad  : 


(       148       ) 

"  Atin  Ra,  the  Solar  Disk. 
"  Muer  Ra,  the  Solar  Ray. 
"  Ra,  the  Abstract  Deity. 

"  They  seemed  to  be  identical,  but  the  great  so  -  called 
"  Heresy  of  Amenophis  IV,  or  Khuen-Atin,  turned  upon  this 
"  difference.  His  real  name  was  Amen  Ra,  he  took  the  name 
"  of  Khu-en-atin,  Glory  to  the  Solar  Disk."  (Cooper's 
Heresies  of  the  Past,  p.  41.) 

Many  of  the  differences  of  modern  Sects  are  equally  foolish. 
"  If  Christians  and  Mahometans  were  in  their  superstitious 
"  fancies  equally  far  from  the  Truth,  they  were  equally  wanting 
"  in  justice  and  mercy.  The  Jesuit-ridden  Court  of  Vienna  in 
"  vain  urged  the  sacred  duty  of  persecuting  the  Protestants  in 
"  Hungary  on  the  Turkish  Pasha  at  Buda,  who  treated  Christians 
"  of  all  sects  and  sorts  with  the  same  contemptuous  toleration. 
"  The  Jews,  expelled  from  Christian  Spain,  found  a  refuge  and 
"  a  shelter  in  the  dominions  of  the  Grand  Turk  ;  while  the 
"  Corsair  brigantines  of  Algiers  and  Sallec  were  propelled  by 
"  sinews  of  Christian  Slaves,  the  rowing-benches  of  the  galleys 
"  of  the  Most  Christian  King,  and  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John, 
"  were  manned  by  fettered  Turks  and  Moors." 

But  the  lower  grades  of  society  are  quite  as  susceptible  of 
the  same  bitter  intolerance  :  they  cannot  be  contented  to  leave 
other  people  alone,  if  they  are  left  alone  themselves:  in  1893 
the  Hindu  mob  attacked  the  Mahometans,  because  they  availed 
themselves  of  their  undoubted  right  to  kill  cattle  for  consumption : 
lives  have  been  lost  in  the  struggle  :  there  is  no  doubt  that 
the  new  organization  of  "Cow-Protection  Society"  is  but  a 
seditious  movement  under  a  thin  veil  of  Religion.  An  attempt 
has  been  made  to  capture  Commissariat-cattle,  collected  for  the 
food  of  the  British  troops  :  the  troops  were  called  out,  and 
there  was  loss  of  life  among  the  rioters.  It  is  clear,  that  the 
non-Christian  fanatics  have  their  Religious  fads  quite  as  much 
as  the  Christian  faddists  in  England,  who  worry  about  the 
Opium  -  Trade.  Of  course  desecration  of  Mosques,  and 
destruction  of  Temples,  always  form  part  of  such  lamentable 
contests. 

Civil  disabilities  still  exist;  Murder,  Torture,  Burying  alive, 
for  the  present,  are  out  of  fashion.  Both  the  Hindu,  and  the 
Buddhist,  are  tolerant  as  regards  dogma,  and  have  ever  been 
so.  Nebuchadnezzar's  golden  image  is  a  specimen  of  the 
Religious  teaching  not  only  of  that  age,  but  of  mankind  till  the 
Reformation,  and  even  afterwards  till  the  Revolution ;  whatever 
the  Rulers  approved,  that  must  be  enforced.  We  read  of  people 
burnt  because  they  would  not  believe  in  the  Image,  and  then 
cut  to  pieces  because  they  would  not  believe  in  the  God  of 


(       149       ) 

Israel:  it  is  the  same  now:  Orthodoxy  means  "IMy-doxy"; 
each  person  thinks  his  own  form  of  Religion  the  very  best 
form,  and  the  only  one,  which  ought  to  be  allowed  to  exist ; 
in  fact,  the  common  herd,  gentle  and  simple,  lays  aside  all 
Reason,  Justice,  and  Common-Sense  in  matters  of  Religion. 
Christian  things  should  be  done  in  a  Christian  manner. 

As  I  walked  years  ago  through  the  streets  of  the  great  city 
of  Banaras  in  North  India,  of  which  I  was  Magistrate,  I  have 
stopped  before  Temples  to  exchange  civil  words  with  the 
Hindu  Priests,  and  watch  their  ritual.  I  listened  to  their 
prayers  in  an  archaic  dead  Language,  which  I  could  under- 
stand, having  learnt  the  Language  in  an  English  College,  but 
of  which  the  prostrate  worshippers  understood  not  a  word.  I 
recognised  the  same  features,  which  I  had  witnessed  in  the 
Temples  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  Christianity.  Whether  the 
form  was  wrong  or  right,  it  was  at  least  a  service  of  duty  to 
the  Ruler  of  the  Universe.  It  was  the  Religious  conception 
of  200  Millions,  and  of  a  date  earlier  than  INIoses,  tolerant, 
making  no  attempt  to  proselytize,  peaceful,  self-satisfied,  and 
conveying  a  sanction  to  personal  Morality  under  certain 
recognised  laws  and  customs. 

Then  and  now  arose  in  my  mind  the  awful  question  :  what 
right  had  a  petty  Chieftain,  like  the  King  of  Samaria,  to 
slaughter  the  Priests  of  Baal,  because  he  differed  from 
them  ?  Would  not  banishment  from  his  kingdom,  as  it  is 
presumed  that  they  were  aliens  from  Tyre,  have  been 
sufficient  ?  Is  it  wise  to  read  the  narratives  of  such  outrages 
on  the  Eternal  Law  of  doing  unto  others  as  you  would  wish 
men  to  do  unto  you,  in  Christian  Churches  ?  Is  this  real 
Worship  to  a  God,  so  full  of  Love  and  Pity,  "Who  hateth 
nothing  that  He  has  made."  In  times  of  trouble  and  oppres- 
sion the  Jew  and  the  Christian  claim  Tolerance  for  themselves. 
The  Missionaries  in  China  are  always  raising  an  outcry  on 
this  subject,  appealing  to  Treaties,  and  soliciting  the  aid  of 
gunboats : 

"  Non  tali  auxilio." 

They  would  be  very  angry  if  the  Emperor  of  China  acted 
towards  them,  as  Ahab  acted  to  the  Priests  of  Baal.  From 
the  Jews  came  the  deadly  heritage  of  Intolerance,  which  lasted 
down  to  the  seventeenth  century  a.d.,  of  inflicting  death  merely 
on  account  of  a  conscientious  difference  in  the  appreciation 
of  Divine  Things.  It  took  a  long  time  for  poor  weak  men  to 
find  out,  that  Religious  convictions  are  involuntary,  and  that  it 
is  contrary  to  the  first  principles  of  true  Religion  to  coerce 
them.     In  the  time  of  the  Prophet  Jeremiah  our  phlegmatic 


(       150      ) 

indifference  to  the  Religious  convictions  of  our  next-door 
neighbours  would  have  been  deemed  to  be  dishonourable  to 
God.  Torquemada,  of  Spain,  who  burnt  8000  Protestants,  was 
but  the  lineal  descendant  of  the  assassins  of  Stephen,  who  were 
of  the  same  seed,  as  those  Priests  who  declared  that  by  their  law 
Christ  ought  to  die. 

It  is  clear  that  the  spread  of  Christianity  in  the  Roman 
Empire  was  brought  about,  not  by  Miracles,  and  Preaching, 
but  by  overbearing  Sovereigns  and  intolerant  Priests.  It  grew 
indeed  by  its  own  internal  power  and  suitability  to  the  age, 
and  recommended  itself  by  its  precepts,  examples,  and  pro- 
mises :  the  old  system  had  broken  up ;  there  was  a  vacuum 
in  the  Religious  atmosphere,  and  Christianity  filled  it.  Could 
this  result  not  have  been  obtained  without  the  frightful  cruelty.'* 
The  Romish  persecutors  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation  were 
but  the  legitimate  successors  of  the  original  Converters.  In 
due  course,  bitter  complaints  were  made  by  the  Christians 
against  the  Mahometans  for  their  intolerance :  in  what  did 
they  differ  from  the  Christians  who  converted  Europe  ?  Alcuin 
boldly  told  Charlemagne  to  see  that  "  everything  was  done  in 
"  the  right  order,  and  that  conviction  of  the  Truth  and  Faith 
"  went  before  Baptism,  since  the  washing  of  the  body  without 
"  any  knowledge  of  the  Faith  in  a  Soul  gifted  with  reason 
"  would  be  of  no  use "  (J.  Johnston,  Century  of  Christian 
Progress,  p.  1 12). 

Such  were  the  views  of  the  Roman  Emperors  in  the  first 
century  of  Christianity,  and  of  the  Hindu  Nation  always. 
Even  an  Atheist  was  not  liable  to  punishment,  as  it  was  not 
in  a  man's  power  to  believe  or  disbelieve  at  his  pleasure ;  it 
was  even  lawful  to  propagate  his  views,  but  not  by  violence, 
or  insult  to  the  Religion  of  others.  Toleration  was  the  great 
primeval  and  Universal  principle  :  it  was  lawful  to  every  man 
to  be  of  what  Religion  he  liked.  The  most  notable  sentiment 
in  the  Annals  of  Tacitus  for  the  guidance  of  Statesmen  was 
the  golden  dictum  of  Tiberius : 

"  Deorum  injuriae  Diis  curag." 

What  rivers  of  blood  would  not  its  frank  acceptance  have 
prevented  ?  Who  made  poor  erring  man  judge  of  the  fact, 
whether  an  insult  was  offered  to  God  in  matters  of  Religion  ? 
The  Missionary  spares  no  words  of  abuse  of  a  non-Christian 
for  uttering  blasphem.ous  words  with  regard  to  his  holy 
Religion :  it  is,  indeed,  painful  to  hear  or  read  such  ex- 
pressions ;  but  the  Missionary  does  not  spare  the  Religious 
conceptions  of  other  Nations,  and  in  their  eyes  is  equally 
guilty  of  blasphemy,  and  in  our  eyes  of  ignorant  intolerance. 


(       151       ) 

I\Iore  in  his  "Eutopia"  gives  a  clear  idea  of  the  sentiments 
of  the  enlightened  men  of  his  time,  such  as  Erasmus,  Colet, 
and  their  mutual  friend  : 

"  That  God's  design  was  the  happiness  of  man  ;  that  the 
"  ascetic  rejector  of  legitimate  Human  delights,  save  for  the 
"  common  good,  or  other  high  cause,  was  thanklessness." 

It  must  not  be  forgotten,  that  the  Religious  persecutor  and 
the  Religious  martyr,  i.e.,  one  who  has  courted  martyrdom,  are 
the  same  kind  of  person  in  a  different  environment.  He,  who 
is  ready  ostentatiously  to  die  for  his  Faith,  has  a  certainty  that 
it  is  conformable  to  Divine  law,  and  to  his  own  advantage  to 
make  others  die,  if  they  oppose  that  Faith.  Torquemada 
could  not  see  that  there  was  a  via  media  of  leaving  people 
alone  :  he  would  have  courted  martyrdom  himself,  and  declined 
to  be  let  alone. 

Hear  the  words  of  the  Bishop  of  London  in  his  sermon  at 
the  Exeter  Church  Congress,  1894  : 

"  If  a  man  believed,  he  could  not  be  indifferent  to  all  that 
"  was  said  against  the  Truth  of  God.  But  that  was  not  Christ's 
"  way  of  dealing  with  those,  who  had  sinned  against  Him,  who 
"  were  not  moved  in  the  slightest  degree  either  by  His 
"  marvellous  works  or  His  still  more  marvellous  teaching.  In 
"  no  such  way  did  the  Lord  ever  allow  that  His  Gospel  should 
'*  be  maintained  ;  in  no  such  way  did  He  ever  encourage  His 
"  true  disciples  to  fight  in  defence  of  the  Faith  or  of  the 
"  Church.  It  had  been  tried  again  and  again.  There  had 
"  been  times,  when  Christians  had  endeavoured  to  maintain  the 
"  Truth  by  persecuting  unto  the  death  those,  who  dared  to  assail 
"  Him,  when  Christians  had  defended  the  Church  by  the  use  of 
"  such  means  as  the  Lord  never  used  Himself,  and  never 
"  authorized  others  to  use.  Was  there  any  man  who  had  read 
"  Church  History,  who  in  his  calmer  moments  was  not  ashamed 
"  of  what  had  been  done  in  the  name  of  Christ  ?  Was  there 
"  any  man  who  would  not,  if  he  could,  blot  out  of  the  events 
"  of  the  past  all  the  History  of  those  saddest  of  all  sad  days, 
"  when  Human  life  and  comfort  and  happiness  were  counted  as 
*'  nothing  if  there  were  any  chance  of  maintaining  the  Divine 
"  Institutions  and  Divine  Doctrine  ?  They  could  not  think  of 
"  such  things  without  grief  of  heart.  No  one  now  proposed  a 
"  return  to  anything  like  that.  None  proposed  such  intolerance 
*'  or  any  kind  of  persecution.  Still  they  were  tempted  to 
"  assume  the  position,  which  belonged  to  the  Lord  alone,  and 
"  to  condemn,  although  they  acknowledged,  that  they  had  no 
"  right  to  push  condemnation  into  punishment." 

To  give  an  idea  of  the  feelings  of  a  Hungarian  Magnate  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century  on  the  subject  of  Toleration,  I  quote 
the  words  of  Count  Zichi  in  the  Chamber  of  Magnates,   1894. 


(       152      ) 

He  stated,  that  it  was  precisely  his  respect  to,  and  sympathy 
for,  his  Jewish  fellow-citizens,  that  made  him  oppose  the 
measure  (to  grant  them  freedom  from  intolerant  laws),  "because 
"  to  grant  permission  to  Christians  to  go  over  to  the  Jewish 
"  Religion  was  contrary  to  the  very  Idea  of  Christianity,  while 
"  conversion  from  Judaism  to  Christianity  was  already  per- 
"  mitted."  This  is  indeed  an  instance  of  the  deep  degradation 
of  the  intellect  and  conscience  of  honest  and  educated  men. 


3.  Fanaticism. 

We  have  sad  instances  in  all  ages,  and  all  climes,  of 
Impostors,  Fanatics,  Enthusiasts,  devotees,  deliberate  fabrica- 
tors, perjurers.  The  self-imposed  tortures  of  the  Hindu  Fakir 
is  a  matter  of  notoriety  ;  so  is  the  locking  up  in  a  convent 
of  a  poor  young  girl,  whose  presence  is  in  the  way  of  her 
own  people  ;  the  dancing  of  the  Durwish  in  Constantinople  ; 
the  swinging  of  the  Fakir  at  the  Charak-Puja  in  Bangal ;  the 
Eremites  of  Egypt;  the  pillar  of  Simon  Stylites  at  Antioch  ; 
the  lying  miracles  at  Papist  Shrines ;  the  alleged  Faith-healing 
of  infatuated  religionists ;  the  believers  in  a  Millennium.  All 
discussion  on  scientific,  or  historical,  principles  is  avoided, 
or  forbidden,  because  it  is  beyond  the  intellectual  standard 
of  the  majority.  "  Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians  !  "  is  the 
cry,  which  floats  down  the  great  River  of  Time  in  all  countries 
and  all  Languages.  The  Protestant  Missionary  calls  the  non- 
Christian  a  fanatic,  who  will  not  listen  to  his  arguments,  or  the 
Jew,  or  the  Roman  Catholic,  but  are  they  more  fanatical  than 
the  Missionary  himself  ?  The  Latin  word  '  fanaticus '  is  derived 
from  *  fanum,'  "  a  temple,"  and  its  primary  meaning  is  one 
that  is  "inspired,"  and  "enthusiastic";  as  far  back  as  the  time 
of  Cicero,  it  acquired  the  secondary  meanings  of  "  furious,  mad, 
frantic." 

4.  Superstition. 


In  which  form  of  Religious  conception  are  grosser  instances 
recorded  of  Superstition,  Sanctimoniousness,  Hypocrisy,  arro- 
gant Pharisaic  pride,  narrow-minded  exclusion  of  others,  claim 
to  a  monopoly  of  the  Deity  ?  Under  each  one  of  these  heads 
how  much  could  be  written,  gathered  from  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures,  the  non-Christian  Sacred  Books,  Secular  Histories, 
Modern  News-letters,  or  taken  from  life  ! 

Religion   is   essentially   illogical.     The   Psalms   prove   this : 


(       153       ) 

they  are  supposed  to  be  vehicles  of  Love,  yet  how  little  they 
have  of  Mercy  in  dealing  with  those,  whom  the  Hebrew  pietists 
please  to  describe  as  God's  enemies  ;  somebody  else's  "  doxy." 
So  also  the  purest  theoretic  conception  of  Divinity  can  be  found 
flowing  in  the  same  channels  with  the  most  degraded  Supersti- 
tion, most  worldly  practice,  most  low  morality. 


5.  Change  of  Belief. 

There  has  been  the  same  process  of  nominal  belief,  outward 
show,  ceremonial  practice,  going  on  in  the  elder  world,  as  we 
witness  in  the  surface  Christianity  at  the  present  Epoch. 
From  policy,  from  fashion,  from  the  influence  of  marriage, 
or  education,  or  the  result  of  association  with  other  populations, 
changes  have  taken  place :  sometimes  in  the  form  of  Religious 
development,  or  evolution  ;  sometimes  in  contraction  of  Ideas ; 
sometimes  in  sheer  abandonment  of  the  old  conception,  and 
adoption  of  the  new.  In  general  there  has  been  no  heart- 
conversion,  no  acceptance  of  a  new  cut-and-dried  dogma ; 
no  feeling,  "Behold!  I  am  a  new  man."  "Me  eat  beef,  me 
drink  brandy,  me  Christian":  this  is  the  cry  of  the  Indian 
outcast.  Circumcision  fenced  in  the  proselyte  to  Judaism  and 
Islam  by  an  indelible  flesh-mark.  In  this  they  resemble 
cattle,  which  are  marked  with  the  brand  of  their  owner.  The 
Pagan  tribes  of  India  are  gradually  being  absorbed  into  the 
Hindu  and  Mahometan  system,  unless  Christianity  anticipates 
the  change ;  there  is  a  slight  modification  of  dress,  and 
teaching  of  conventional  words,  and  movement  of  the  limbs, 
a  shunning  of  certain  foods,  a  keeping  of  certain  days,  a 
payment  of  certain  fees,  and  the  thing  is  done  :  whether 
labelled  as  a  Hindu,  Mahometan,  Christain,  Fuddhist,  Jew,  he 
is  the  same  ignorant  Pagan,  in  reality,  as  he  was  before. 

It  seems  that  a  powerful  Religion,  supported  by  the 
Ruling  Power,  illustrated  by  works  of  Genius,  must  have  an 
influence  over  the  Religious  conceptions  of  other  people, 
brought  into  contact ;  it  cannot  be  doubted,  that  the  con- 
ception of  Angels,  and  perhaps  of  the  Evil  Spirit,  were 
borrowed  by  the  Jews  during  the  Captivity  from  the  tenets 
of  Zoroaster,  as  exhibited  by  the  old  Persians.  "  It  must  be 
"  admitted,  that  an  unfamiliar  Idea,  when  first  propagated, 
"  always  and  necessarily  produces  a  popular  reaction  in  the 
"  social  organism,  which  is  always  conscientious,  and  rightly 
"  so"  {Revitw  of  Reviavs,  Christmas,  1894). 

The  argument  is  :  Our  present  Religion  exists  ;  it  has  worked 
well  for  a  long  time  :  let  it  be  ;  we  have  tried  it ;  a  change  may 


(       154       ) 

be  for  the  worse ;  the  reflex  action  of  the  self-preserving 
element  in  Society  arms  itself  to  resist  a  new  Idea.  We  have 
only  to  imagine  the  feelings  of  a  Welsh  Clergyman,  when  his 
daughter  announces  herself  as  intending  to  be  a  Mormon,  or  an 
Orangeman  of  Ulster  when  his  son  becomes  a  Papist  Priest. 
The  Missionaries  describe  the  wickedness  of  a  Hindu,  who 
locks  up  his  son,  so  as  to  prevent  his  being  baptized.  What 
would  the  Missionary  do,  if  his  own  wife  or  child  were  to 
become  Theosophists  ? 

Sometimes  without  actual  change  of  terminology  Sects 
spring  into  existence,  like  the  Dialects  of  a  Language,  such 
as  the  Sikhs,  Kabirpanthi,  Jains,  etc.,  among  the  Hindus  ;  the 
Shiah  and  Suni,  Sufi  and  Babi,  among  the  Mahometans ; 
and  the  numerous  Denominations  of  Christianity.  Sometimes 
the  new  Religious  conception  never  gets  clear  of  the  old 
Paganism,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  Church  of  Rome  to  this  day: 
the  fear  is,  that  the  same  perils  await  Christianity  in  India  and 
China ;  they  may  refuse  to  receive  the  doctrines  of  Christ  in  a 
Teutonic,  or  Grseco-Roman,  capsule,  and  form  one  for  themselves 
of  national  and  kindred  elements. 

The  regular  thing  has  always  been  for  the  professors  of  one 
Religion,  or  one  Sect,  heartily  to  abuse,  and,  if  possible,  to 
persecute,  the  holder  of  another:  the  favourite  words  are 
Orthodox  and  Heretic  :  but  which  is  which  ?  A  man,  who  on 
conviction  changes  his  Religion,  gets  no  thanks  for  it,  is 
frightfully  abused,  put  to  every  kind  of  social  torture,  and 
is  "lucky  if  he  escapes  bodily  torture  and  imprisonment.  In 
the  Middle  Ages  there  was  the  Auto  da  f 6  :  early  in  date  the 
Pope  issued  a  Bull  ordering  all,  who  had  accepted  Christianity, 
and  went  back,  to  be  punished.  In  every  form  of  Religion 
there  are  found  to  exist  Sects,  and  they  were  generally 
persecuted. 

I  have  myself  heard  an  American  INIissionary  in  Northern 
India,  in  the  crowded  streets  of  a  town,  tell  his  audience  that  the 
Hindu  worshipped  cow-dung:  the  people  only  laughed,  as  we 
should  laugh,  if  they  were  to  say  that  we  worshipped  a  crumb 
of  bread.  Another  Missionary  called  upon  the  Hindu  to  change 
his  ancient  Religion  for  no  other  reason  than  that  all  the  learned 
men  in  Europe  and  America  believed  in  Christianity,  as  if  that 
style  of  argument  would  influence  any  kind  of  believer. 

Under  the  tombstones  of  so-called  Heretics  lie  a  variety 
of  different  persons,  the  partizans  of  a  fallen  Spiritual  dynasty : 
they  have  had  no  mercy  shown  to  them :  Vee  Victis :  they 
presumed  to  do,  what  we  all  do  now,  think  for  themselves  on 
some  of  the  mysterious  subjects  presented  to  the  Human 
intellect :  they  failed  in  getting  a  hearing,  or  in  convincing,  and 
were  trodden  down  by  some  wilful  Sovereign  or  Chieftain,  or 


(       155       ) 

some  imperious  ecclesiastic :  their  books  were  all  burnt,  and 
therefore  it  is  presumed,  that  they  must  have  been  in  the  wrong: 
the  wheels  of  the  Catholic  Church  went  over  their  bones  :  they 
were  anathematized  in  the  schools  by  men,  who  had  not  nobility 
of  character  sufficient  to  credit  their  adversaries  with  benevolent 
intentions,  and  treat  their  so-called  errors  with  Christian  charity. 
Thus  the  Church,  as  left  by  the  Apostles,  has  gradually 
deteriorated  into  a  pretentious  Priesthood  with  Ritual  and 
Ceremonies  :  there  were  honest  men  in  past  centuries,  as  there 
are  still,  who  will  continue  to  protest,  as  their  forefathers  did, 
and  separate  themselves  from  the  corrupted  Truth. 


(       156      ) 


CAP.  VII.     PROGRESS   OF  THE   HUMAN   RACE. 


1.  Multiplication  and   Improved  Culture   under  all    forms 

of  Religious  Belief. 

2.  Art,  Sculpture,  Painting,  Architecture,  Drama. 


I.    Multiplication  and  Improved  Culture  under  all 
FORMS  OF  Religious  Belief. 

The  Human  Race  has  prospered,  multiplied,  and  grown  fat, 
under  all  conditions  of  Religious  conception.  The  populations 
of  India  and  China  are  increasing  at  an  enormous  rate,  and 
together  make  up  half  the  total  of  the  Globe  :  the  great  non- 
Christian  River  flows  on,  flows  on,  quite  unconscious  of  the 
tiny  streamlet  of  Christian  Doctrine,  that  leaves  no  trace  in 
the  colour  of  the  waters.  We  read  in  the  Books  of  Chronicles, 
that  if  a  King  or  his  Subjects  worshipped  Baal,  they  were  at  once 
visited  by  the  anger  of  an  outraged  National  Deity  ;  and  if  a  King 
destroyed  idols,  and  removed  high  places,  he  received  material 
blessing;  with  the  Captivity  at  Babylon,  and  the  conception 
of  an  Idea  of  Rewards  and  Punishments  in  a  Future  State, 
this  style  of  describing  the  course  of  Human  events  fell  out 
of  practice :  something  of  the  kind  reappears  in  the  Annual 
Reports  of  Evangelical  Missionary  Societies:  any  temporary 
success  of  a  Mission  is  described  as  "  receiving  God's  manifest 
blessings."  When,  a  few  years  afterwards  the  Missionary  dies, 
or  is  killed,  and  the  Mission  uprooted,  the  Chronicler  is  silent: 
yet  the  balance  of  success  and  failure  is  held  by  the  same  wise, 
kind,  and  unerring,  Hand  :  there  are  blessings  in  disguise  :  I 
have  known  the  death  of  a  Missionary  to  be  a  gain  to  the 
INIission,  the  greatest  possible  gain. 

One  thing  is  quite  clear,  that  the  current  of  Religious  belief 
has  no  relation  whatever  to  the  material  prosperity  of  a  country, 
and  it  is  well  that  this  should  be  the  case.  Nor  does  it  depend 
entirely  on  the  intellectual  position  of  the  Race :  none  is  so 
degraded  as  not  to  be  capable  of  Religious  influences,  but  the 


(      157      ) 

lower  that  they  are,  the  lower  is  that  influence  :  this  makes 
the  position  of  the  degraded  Races  of  mankind  so  peculiarly 
the  objects  of  our  sympathy  and  pity.  Their  existence  is 
a  wonderful  phenomenon  :  the  chariot  of  the  great  moral  and 
political  conquerors  of  the  world  in  past  centuries  has  passed 
them  by ;  they  have  had  only  faint  opportunities  of  developing 
the  good,  that  most  certainly  is  in  them  ;  they  have  but  a  dim 
Idea  of  an  unknown  Great  Power,  at  whose  mercy  they  live. 

Their  service  is  not  of  Love,  but  of  Fear:  the  Past  has 
brought  them  no  lessons,  the  Present  no  enjoyment,  and  no 
certain  Hope  lies  in  their  Future :  here  we  see  the  necessity 
of  a  civilizing  influence  brought  about  by  contact  with  neigh- 
bours, and  the  power  of  transmission  of  the  experience  of 
one  age  to  the  next  by  the  means  of  literature. 

And  yet  in  the  whole  Race  of  man,  whether  Christian,  or 
non-Christian,  or  pre-Christian,  from  the  time  of  Pharaoh,  who 
ordered  all  the  male  children  to  be  killed,  down  to  the  present 
year,  we  find  the  same  absence  of  Peace  and  Mercy,  the  same 
desire  to  shed  blood,  the  same  lust  and  greed  evidenced  in  the 
annexation  of  countries,  and  destruction  of  weaker  Races. 
The  Kings  of  Egypt,  Assyria,  and  Babylonia,  could  not  have 
evidenced  more  contempt  for  the  lives  of  other  Nations  than 
do  the  Chartered  Companies  of  Africa,  South  of  the  Equator  : 
we  read  calmly  in  the  daily  papers  of  so  many  poor  Africans 
killed  by  the  intruding  white  men,  of  the  so-called  impudence 
of  an  African  Chief  venturing  to  think  of  expelling  intrusive 
enemies  from  his  dominions ;  add  to  these  the  awful  crimes 
committed  by  the  Slave-Dealer,  the  Scientific  Explorer,  and  the 
Liquor-Dealer :  the  first  is  beyond  European  control,  and  is 
only  the  result  of  European  example  in  the  last  century ;  the 
second  and  third  are  the  peculiar  outcomes  of  so-called  Christian 
civilization.  The  story  of  Africa  rightly  told,  the  thousands 
killed  by  the  Europeans,  the  evil  habits  taught  by  Europeans, 
the  new  and  filthy  diseases  introduced  into  uncivilized  Races 
by  Europeans,  indicate  what  a  powerless  factor  any  Religion, 
the  purest,  the  best,  is  in  the  control  of  Human  affairs.  How 
often  we  read  in  the  papers  of  the  violation  and  murder  of 
women  in  England  !  In  India  up  to  a  late  date  widows  were 
burnt,  and  female  children  killed,  as  a  matter  of  Religion.  We 
have  stopped  the  latter,  but  the  former  still  flourishes. 

Deliberate  ill-treatment  of  women  and  children  seems  to 
have  been  the  feature  of  all  Religions  in  ancient  days :  Samuel 
ordered  all  the  Amalekite  women  and  children  to  be  killed  ; 
in  the  Psalms  in  our  Churches  we  hear  English  women  and 
children  chanting  out,  "  Happy  is  he,  who  dashes  thy  little  ones 
against  the  stones."  The  whole  conduct  of  the  Hebrew  Race 
towards  women,  beginning  with  David  and  Solomon,  was  simply 


(       158       ) 

disgusting.  How  different  was  the  conduct  of  the  contemporary 
Greek  :  there  was  no  polygamy  there  :  the  scene  of  Andromach6 
parting  from  Hector  places  the  relation  of  the  sexes  beyond 
dispute.  Among  the  savage  Races  woman  is  but  a  chattel, 
purchased  for  so  many  cows,  to  be  killed  at  pleasure. 

In  a  paper  read  at  the  last  Meeting  of  the  British  Association, 
i8g3,  we  find,  that  the  women  of  the  tribes  in  the  Kongo  basin 
are  not  credited  with  having  any  future  state.  In  England  women 
are  disqualified  from  services,  public  and  private,  for  which  they 
are  fully  qualified,  simply  because  they  are  women,  while  every 
foolish,  half-witted,  man  is  admitted  as  a  matter  of  course.  And 
no  one  class  presses  the  heel  down  on  women  more  than  the 
Religious  Classes.  Some,  if  not  all,  of  the  greatest  of  Religious 
and  Missionary  Associations  have  scornfully  rejected  the  rights 
of  women  to  take  their  full  share  in  the  work  of  Committees, 
Municipal  Bodies  have  long  ago  admitted  women  to  their  share 
of  the  control  of  Poor  Law  Boards,  School  Boards,  Hospitals, 
and  Charities.  Any  male  old  woman  is  fit  to  be  on  a  INIissionary 
Committee,  but  women  are  under  tabu. 

There  seems  to  have  been  a  marked  change  after  the  Captivity 
in  the  treatment  of  women.  The  compiler  of  the  Books  of 
Chronicles  omits  all  allusion  to  the  gross  immoralities  of 
David  and  Solomon ;  he  belonged  to  an  Epoch,  when  such 
things  were  impossible.  At  the  time  of  Anno  Domini  women 
were  treated  with  respect,  and  in  the  time  of  Paul  with  a  feeling 
of  love  and  honour.  This  was  the  effect,  not  of  Judaism,  but 
of  Hellenism,  which  eventually  was  to  expand  into  Christianity. 
Women  were  excluded  from  the  Covenant  in  Judaism,  but 
admitted  by  Baptism  :  women  were  subject  to  Polygamy  in 
Judaism  before  the  Captivity  :  Monogamy  has  ever  been  the 
law  of  Christianity :  women  were  put  to  death  for  the  offences  of 
their  male  relations  in  Judaism;  in  Christianity  there  is  no  such 
vicarious  punishment. 

I  should  have  lived  with  my  eyes  shut  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century  in  the  midst  of  an  Asiatic  people,  scattered  in  hundreds 
of  towns,  and  thousands  of  sequestered  villages ;  I  should  have 
read  in  vain  the  writings  of  sacred  and  profane  Authors  of  the 
elder  centuries,  if  I  had  not  come  to  a  conviction,  that  the  Human 
Race  is  not  without  a  large  portion  of  goodness,  loving-kindness, 
docility,  purity,  humility,  and  striving  after  forgiveness  of  errors, 
without  reference  to  their  Religious  conception.  On  the  other 
hand,  with  reference  to  such  conceptions,  History,  ancient  and 
modern,  teems  with  instances  of  staunchness,  and  dauntlessness, 
of  confession  before  men,  and  martyrdom  of  old  and  young 
of  both  sexes.  Paley  must  have  been  ignorant  of  History  and 
the  world  generally,  when  he  instanced  martyrdom  as  a  proof 
of  the  Truth  of  one  Religious  Belief:  it  appears  that  votaries 


(       159       ) 

are  most  ready  to  suffer  and  die  for  beliefs,  which  appear  to 
us  to  be  obviously  the  most  false.  A  modern  writer  has  told 
us  of  the  universal  hunger  and  thirst  for  Truth,  Righteousness, 
and  Love,  exhibited  by  men,  at  intervals  of  centuries,  showing 
the  continuousness  of  the  innate  influence,  and  occurring  at 
distances  of  space  never  traversed  by  mortal  foot.  We  cannot 
but  humbly  believe  that  hearts,  such  as  that  of  Socrates,  Buddha, 
Zoroaster,  and  Kong-Fu-Tsee,  were  touched  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
however  much  the  Christian  Pharisee  may  arrogate  to  himself 
the  monopoly  of  Virtue.  God  has  not  left  Himself  without 
a  witness:  not  without  His  permission,  and  design,  has  the 
spread  of  Christian  Truth  been  delayed  for  so  many  centuries, 
and  restricted  by  so  many  impediments.  Paul  testifies  to  this 
both  at  Lystra  (Acts,  xiv,  i6,  17)  and  at  Athens  (Acts,  xvii,  27). 

I  quote  the  words  of  Bishop  Selwyn  the  elder:  "I  have 
"  myself  seen  the  lowest  type  of  humanity,  the  Australian  blacks  ; 
"  I  have  seen  the  men  of  Erromanga,  who  have  twice  killed 
"  Missionaries  on  their  own  shore,  but  I  am  sure,  that  these 
"  men  have  the  same  capacity  for  the  reception  of  Divine  Truth, 
"  that  any  of  us  is  gifted  with  by  God.  I  have  been  present, 
"  when  one  of  these  despised  Races  was  sentenced  to  death, 
"  and  I  attended  him  at  his  execution :  he  left  on  my  mind  the 
"  impression,  that  he  died  with  just  as  much  of  simple  Faith,  as 
"  was  accepted  by  Jesus  Christ  from  the  penitent  thief  on  the 
«'  Cross." 

The  appearance  of  great  Philosophers,  and  Founders  of  new 
Religions,  simultaneously  in  different  parts  of  the  Globe  about 
the  sixth  and  fifth  centuries  B.C.  indicated  that  the  Human 
Race  was  passing  from  the  Animistic  conception  of  early 
days,  and  the  childhood  of  mankind,  into  full  manhood.  It 
grew  in  knowledge  of  itself,  its  environment,  and  other  men, 
and  felt  after  an  unknown  Ruler,  a  Dispenser  of  Good  and 
Evil,  one  who  creates,  preserves,  and  has  the  power  to  destroy, 
yet  is  merciful,  slow  to  anger,  and  full  of  fatherly  kindness. 
It  had  been  compelled  to  look  inward  and  outward,  and  to 
moralize,  speculate,  and  formulate,  and  all  thoughtful  men  even 
to  this  day  are  troubled  with  the  same  thought,  why  so  many 
hundred,  apparently  innocent,  at  any  rate  unprepared,  thought- 
less, creatures  are  hurried  into  Eternity  without  a  moment  of 
preparation,  by  a  wicked  War,  a  Storm,  a  Railway-Accident,  a 
Pit-Accident,  or  something  going  wrong  in  a  Manufactory. 

Plato  points  out  that  "  Knowledge  is  only  recollection,  the 
"  soul  being  immortal :  what  men  called  '  Dying '  was  passing 
"  from  one  state  of  existence  to  a  new  state,  which  men  called 
"  '  Birth';  it  remembers  all  its  stages,  and  recalls  them.  In  the 
"  Royal  procession  of  Gods  and  Souls  of  Mortals  in  the  highest 
"  Heavens,  '  the  Soul,  which  follows  God  closest,  and  is  made 


(       160       ) 

"  '  more  like  unto  Him,  lifts  the  head  of  its  charioteer  into  the 
"  '  siipercelestial  realm,  and  so  he  is  carried  round,  and  having 
"  '  gained  a  clear  vision  of  Truth,  remains  in  the  society  of 
"'the  Gods'  and  apprehends  absolute  Truth."  (Westcott : 
Religious  Thoughts  of  the  West,  pp.  28,  29,  30.) 

Leigh  Hunt's  beautiful  lines  are  to  the  point :  Abu  ben 
Adhem,  a  holy  man,  saw  an  Angel  writing  the  names  of  those, 
who  love  the  Lord,  and  to  the  inquiry,  whether  his  name  was 
there,  received  a  negative  reply  : 

"  Abu  spoke  more  low 
"  And  cheerily  still,  and  said  :  "  I  pray  thee  then 
•'  Write  me  as  one  that  loves  his  fellow-men  : " 
"  The  Angel  wrote,  and  vanished.     The  next  night 
"  It  came  again  with  a  great  wakening  light, 
"  And  showed  the  names,  which  love  of  God  had  blessed, 
"  And  lo  !  Ben  Adhem's  name  led  all  the  rest." 

Can  we  not  all  agree  in  these  additional  lines,  which  I  suggest  ? 

"  For  we  best  love  our  God  and  Father,  when 
•'  We  most  entirely  love  our  fellow-men." 

Altruism  was  the  great  principle  introduced  into  the  world, 
600  B.C.,  by  Gautama  Buddha:  before  it  had  been  Egoism; 
"  save  yourself,  and  let  the  world  take  its  chance."  The  secret  of 
the  power  of  the  Buddhist  was  in  the  fact,  that  he  was  perfectly 
unselfish,  that  the  greatest  joy  was  to  do  good  to  others,  that 
the  thought  of  self  was  evil  :  at  the  time  of  the  great  Anno 
Domini  this  principle  was  enforced  by  a  higher  sanction,  and  a 
Divine  aid  promised  to  those  who  practised  it. 


2.  Art,  Sculpture,  Painting,  Architecture,  Drama. 

All  Religions,  and  more  especially  the  Christian,  have 
suffered  much  from  their  contact  with  Art,  Art  Pagan  in  its 
conception,  half- Pagan  to  this  day  :  what  else  but  Pagan  is  the 
halo  of  glory  round  the  heads  of  holy  figures  ?  it  is  but  the 
brass  plate  fastened  on  the  heads  of  Pagan  Statues  to  prevent 
the  features  being  defiled  by  the  deposits  of  birds.  The  early 
Christians  opposed  the  Paganizing  of  their  Faith  by  contact 
with  Art :  witness  Eusebius'  letter  to  the  Empress  Constantia 
(Westcott,  "Religious  Thought  in  the  West,"  p.  294):  "We 
may  not  seem,  like  Idolaters,   to    carry  our  God  about  in   an 


(       161       ) 

Image."  How  many  of  the  errors  of  the  Romish  Church  are 
but  the  outcomes  of  the  gross  realism  of  Sculpture  and 
Painting !  If  Christ  in  His  agony  at  Gennesareth  cried  out, 
"let  this  cup  pass  from  Me,"  was  it  right  in  a  Statuary  to 
represent  an  Angel  forcing  the  Sacramental  cup  on  Him  ?  If 
the  Evangelist  records,  that  Satan  entered  after  the  sop  into 
Judas,  was  it  right  in  a  Painting  to  delineate  a  rat  leaping 
into  Judas'  mouth  ? 

Ruskin  ("Stones  of  Venice")  remarks,  that  he  never  yet  met 
a  Christian,  whose  heart  was  thoroughly  set  upon  the  world  to 
come,  and,  so  far  as  Human  judgment  could  pronounce,  perfect 
and  right  before  God,  who  cared  about  Art  at  all :  at  the  best 
it  is  Human,  false,  and  meretricious.  The  Greek  Church 
allows  no  Statues,  but  sins  more  deeply  as  regards  Pictures. 

The  Mahometan  will  not  allow  the  figure  of  man  to  be 
pourtrayed.  The  Paintings  and  Statuary  of  the  Hindu  and 
Buddhist  seem  to  the  European  eye  so  gross,  as  to  be  incapable 
of  doing  harm,  but  to  the  Asiatic  eye  they  are  as  baneful  as  the 
finest  work  of  European  Sculptor  or  Painter.  In  the  Greek 
and  Roman  Churches  the  effect  is  monstrous  and  lamentable. 
Pictures  are  exhibited  to  illustrate  false  Doctrines,  the  stories 
of  false  Miracles,  such  as  the  Miracle  of  Bolsena,  in  which 
blood  flowed  from  the  wafer  to  prove  the  Doctrine  of  Tran- 
substantiation,  or  to  record  false  facts,  and  false  dreams. 
Pictures  are  exhibited,  in  which  ancient  and  Oriental  people 
are  represented  in  European  dress,  and  surrounded  with 
European  furniture,  such  as  the  birth  of  Christ  in  a  four-post 
bed  ;  the  Last  Supper  is  drawn  as  a  feast  of  modern  times, 
and  the  wine  is  exhibited  in  a  Sacramental  cup.  Other 
Pictures,  called  Religious,  are  merely  exhibitions  of  female 
beauty,  imperfectly  draped,  in  indelicate  positions.  Such  stories 
as  Potiphar's  wife,  Susanna  and  the  Elders,  David  and 
Bathsheba,  should  have  been  shunned  by  Painters  with  any 
spark  of  Religion.  The  same  thought  to  a  less  degree  applies 
to  Statues  of  Religious  subjects :  they  deceive  the  vulgar  :  that 
is  their  object. 

In  an  educated  community  pictures  can  do  little  harm,  but 
among  an  ignorant  peasantry,  such  as  the  Italian,  they  are 
productive  of  infinite  mischief:  in  the  Basilica  of  St.  Agnes, 
at  Rome,  a  picture  is  exhibited  of  Pope  Pius  IX  being  saved 
from  a  fall  by  the  Apostle  Peter  putting  his  arms  round  him, 
at  the  same  time,  that  Agnes  is  praying  to  the  Virgin  to 
intercede  for  his  safety:  the  ignorant  populace  believe,  that 
this  took  place.  In  the  Vatican  is  a  large  picture  of  the 
dogma  of  the  Immaculate  Conception-Bull  being  proclaimed 
in  St.  Peter's  by  the  Pope :  the  scene  down  below  is  what 
actually  took  place  :  up  above  is  the  Trinity,  the  Apostles,  and 


(       162       ) 

the  Prophets,  looking  on  with  satisfaction,  and  the  Virgin 
coming  forward  and  bowing  her  thanks  to  the  audience  below  : 
what  can  be  thought  of  such  a  conception  !  Awful  pictures 
are  seen  everywhere  of  the  pains  in  Hell,  and  poor  people 
in  Purgatory,  to  induce  people  to  pay  money  for  Masses. 
Mahomet  saw  how  the  influence  of  Pictures  and  Statues  had  led 
the  Greek  and  Roman  Churches  into  Polytheism  in  a  veiled 
form,  while  the  uncultured  Semites  clung  to  Monotheism,  and 
he  had  the  courage  to  resist  it,  and  forbade  the  material 
representation  of  the  Human  body.  Before  the  invention  of 
Printing,  and  the  spread  of  literature,  it  may  have  been 
expedient  to  represent  Scripture  scenes  in  statuesque  full-size 
forms  ;  but  it  is  so  no  longer  necessary  or  expedient. 

Now  that  Toleration  exists  it  may  be  found,  that  the  Art 
of  the  Sculptor  and  Painter  may  be  used  for  the  purpose  of 
deriding  Scripture-stories  :  I  saw  in  Holland  a  picture  of  the 
birth  of  Christ  in  a  manger,  in  which  it  had  been  so  arranged, 
that  the  horns  of  an  ox  should  fit  exactly  over  the  head 
of  Joseph,  his  reputed  father,  and  the  guide  pointed  out 
with  glee  this  arrangement  to  show  that  Joseph  wore  horns. 
The  ill-judging  Missionary  in  India  circulates  offensive  descrip- 
tions of  Mahomet  and  Krishna :  a  free  Press  will  soon  learn 
to  retaliate,  and  use  the  same  weapons.  The  erection  of 
magnificent,  and  highly  decorated,  places  of  Worship,  with 
valuable  ornaments  of  metal,  is  to  be  deplored :  it  is  a 
remnant  of  Judaism  and  Paganism,  and  of  the  Religious 
conceptions  of  the  elder  world,  when  Religion  was  National, 
not  individual,  external  ritual,  not  inward  Spirituality.  Theatrical 
performances  of  Scripture  stories  are  to  be  deplored.  In  the 
streets  of  Banaras  the  great  Hindu  story  of  the  Avatara  of  Rama 
is  annually  enacted  amidst  rejoicing  thousands,  and  sometimes 
the  great  Mahometan  festival  of  Husan  and  Hosein  falls  on  the 
same  day,  and  Christian  Rulers  have  to  keep  the  peace :  all 
such  things  belong  to  a  Past,  and  should  under  no  circumstances 
be  made  use  of  in  the  great  Religious  conception,  which  now 
dominates  the  world,  as  it  is  unworthy  of  the  civilization 
of  the  Nineteenth  Century, 


(       1G3      ) 


•     CONCLUDING   REMARKS. 

I  have  come  to  my  final  remarks :  it  is  of  no  use,  like  the 
ostrich,  thrusting  our  eyes  in  the  sand,  and  seeing  nothing. 
The  population  of  the  whole  world  is  now  for  the  first  time 
in  the  annals  of  mankind  brought  into  personal  contact.  The 
word  Christian  has  now  become  merely  a  Census-term :  it  is 
not  uncharitable  to  say,  that  thousands  and  thousands,  who 
bear  the  name,  have  no  personal  knowledge  of  Him,  whose 
name  they  bear.  The  effect  of  State-Education  in  British 
India,  and  of  Commerce,  and  social  intercourse  and  general 
Progress  and  Enlightenment  in  the  whole  world,  is  having  the 
same  effect  on  the  non-Christian  population.  There  is  gradually 
forming  a  great  arena,  in  which  men  nominally  of  all  Creeds 
meet  together,  have  no  objection  to  make  to  each  other :  there 
may  be  a  little  backwardness  in  Matrimony  and  Commensality, 
but  there  it  ends.  There  is  the  possibility  before  us  of  the 
great  majority  of  the  Human  Race  being  absolutely  without 
any  Religious  tie.  An  accomplished  student  of  the  Subject 
(Tiele,  p.  244)  remarks,  that  "the  decay  of  the  Roman  State- 
"  Worship,  and  the  hunger  of  the  Roman  people  for  foreign 
"  gods,  Artemis  of  Ephesus,  the  Great  Mother  of  the  gods, 
"  Mi:thra,  Serapis,  were  the  expression  at  that  time  of  a  real 
"  and  deep-seated  need  in  the  Human  mind,  which  could  not 
"  find  satisfaction  in  a  moribund  State-Religion.  Men  longed 
"  for  a  god,  whom  they  could  worship  with  heart  and  soul, 
"  and  with  this  god  they  longed  to  be  reconciled."  This 
is  not  a  characteristic  of  this  Epoch.  While  the  sections, 
the  denominations,  the  parties,  in  the  Christian  Church  are 
fighting  with  each  other,  the  great  mass  of  the  community  is 
slipping  out  of  all  Religious  Worship  whatever,  and  there 
is  much  reason  to  believe,  that  this  means  all  Religious  Belief 
also.  In  the  face  of  so  much  blank  unbelief  in  the  Christian 
Revelation,  and  so  much  nominal  belief,  accompanied  by  entire 
absence  of  practical  obedience,  yet  co-existent  in  both  instances 
with  morally  consistent  lives,  free  from  outward  stains  of  carnal 
failing,  it  is  clear,  that  we  are  entering  into  a  new  phase  of  the 
Religious  Idea.  There  may  be  an  inward  light  shining  brightly 
in  the  heart  of  true  believers,  and  a  feeling  of  the  Infinite  Love 


(       164       ) 

of  the  Creator  to  His  poor  creatures  in  sending  them  His  Son ; 
there  may  be  an  experimental  testimony  to  the  truth  of  these 
convictions  in  the  lives  of  the  believers,  a  fortitude  under 
adversity,  and  a  self-restraint  in  prosperity,  an  unfeigned  kind- 
ness to  man  and  animals,  a  power  of  gentle  speech  under  all 
circumstances  ;  hours  of  silent  meditation  may  have  deepened 
the  Religious  conviction  of  Repentance,  Faith,  Justification, 
and  Holiness,  quite  independent  of  the  dogma  of  Creeds,  the 
shibboleth  of  Churches,  the  rubric  of  Worship,  for  verily  and 
indeed  God  searches  the  heart,  and  knows  His  own  children. 
But  to  the  non-Christian  emerging  from  Heathenism,  there  may 
be  inducements,  which  may  lead  him  to  broad  unbelief,  or 
formal  Worship,  without  an  atom  of  saving  Truth  in  his  con- 
ception of  Religion.  Still  he  will  be  outwardly  moral,  and  free 
from  the  cruelty  and  intolerance  of  his  ancestors. 

Not  without  reason  the  party,  which  calls  itself  "  Con- 
servative," is  called  the  "  stupid  party "  by  its  opponents, 
for  its  ways  are  stupid,  both  in  things  spiritual  as  well  as 
material  :  "damnat  quod  non  intelligit"  :  it  cannot  see,  that  the 
thoughts  of  men  grow  wider,  as  the  world  advances,  that 
the  eyes  grow  keener  in  proportion  to  the  increasing  strength 
of  the  intellectual  microscope.  I  quote  the  words  of  Dr. 
Butler,  Master  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  at  a  late  Annual 
meeting  of  the  Christian  Evidence  Society : 

"The  marked  reluctance  among  their  ablest  students  to 
"  take  (holy  orders  was  caused,  not  by  fear  of  hard  work,  or 
*'  poverty,  or  loss  of  worldly  pleasures,  but  mainly  by  the  fear 
"  of  losing  their  freedom,  by  the  thought  that  they  would 
"  cease  to  be  inquirers,  and  be  turmed  mio  advocates  of  one  side 
"  in  a  controversy.  Some  of  the  chief  causes,  which  set  young 
"  people  against  revealed  Religion  and  the  clerical  position, 
"  were  to  be  found  in  certain  old  quarrels.  He  could  never 
"  forget  the  dismay  and  indignation  among  serious  young 
"  men  when,  in  the  name  of  orthodoxy,  Maurice  was  expelled 
"  from  his  professorship,  Jowett's  salary  at  Oxford  was  long 
"  withheld,  Dr.  Temple's  appointment  to  the  see  of  Exeter 
"  was  protested  against  by  leading  Bishops  to  the  very  hour  of 
"  his  consecration,  and  Darwin's  great  and  epoch-making  Work, 
"  the  '  Origin  of  Species,'  was  denounced,  as  a  presumptuous 
"  attack  on  Christian  truth.  Unbelievers  were  made  by  well- 
"  meant  errors  of  this  kind.  Just  now  we  had  before  us  the  great 
"  question  of  the  authority  of  the  Old  Testament.  Unfortunately, 
"  few  in  England  were  competent  to  deal  with  it,  as  we  had  so 
"  few  Hebrew  scholars.  But  this  conflict  as  to  the  age  and 
"  authorship  of  the  various  books  and  as  to  the  Human  objects 
"  of  their  authors  might  be  left  to  learned  experts  without  any 
"  anxiety  for  the  Christian  faith.    We  should  not  take  sides,  as 


(       165       ) 

"  if  some  Religious  interest  were  imperilled.  The  only  Religious 
"  interest  was  the  victory  of  Truth.  The  mistake  of  making  the 
"  Godhead  of  Christ  a  bar  to  the  discussion  of  matters  of  history 
"  and  criticism  should  not  be  repeated.  The  argument  was  used, 
"  that  Christ  quoted  a  psalm  as  David's,  that  Christ  shared  the 
*'  omniscience  and  infallibility  of  God,  and  that,  therefore,  David 
"  wrote  the  psalm.  This  argument  was  most  earnestly  to  be 
"  deprecated,  staking  as  it  did  the  true  doctrine  of  our  Lord's 
"  person  on  a  matter  of  no  spiritual  import,  which  ought  to  be 
"  left  to  the  Human  reason.  For  successful  Christian  evidence 
"  work  they  needed  an  eager  and  unbiassed  love  for  Truth  at 
"  any  cost,  intellectual  power  backed  by  adequate  learning, 
"  warm  sympathy  with  every  form  of  spiritual  conflict,  and 
"  courtesy  and  fairness  towards  opponents.  Hardly  anything 
"  repelled  and  disgusted  the  young  more  than  books  on  the 
"  so-called  orthodox  side  which  dealt  discourteously  with 
"  opposition." 

We  live  in  a  world  of  thought  infinitely  widened.  Even  since 
the  Reformation,  Astronomy,  Geology,  Anatomy,  Comparative 
History,  Geography,  Statistics,  have  come  into  existence:  we 
cannot  assume  the  Religious  attitude  of  an  ignorant  Hebrew, 
whose  Ideas  were  restricted  to  his  petty  Province,  or  accept 
the  dicta  of  Paul,  wise  for  his  time,  and  who  yet  expected  the 
JMillennium  in  the  first  century  a.d.,  which  has  not  arrived  at 
the  close  of  the  Nineteenth.  The  old  Fathers,  and  IMediceval 
writers,  had  not  the  physical  facts  of  the  great  Globe,  the  great 
Human  Race  in  all  its  colours,  white,  black,  brown,  red,  and 
yellow,  the  still  greater  Kosmos,  the  handiwork  of  the  Creator, 
before  them.  They  wrote  up  to  the  level  of  the  talents  com- 
mitted to  them.  We  have  the  Truth,  or  at  least  a  larger  portion 
of  it,  but  alas !  it  is  overlaid  by  fond  mediaeval  padding,  and 
incrustated  by  centuries'  deposit  of  misconceptions.  Unless 
the  great  mass  of  mankind  are  to  be  allowed  to  slip  out  of  all 
Religion,  we  must  reconsider  our  intellectual  position.  One 
thing  is  clear:  the  uniformity  of  law,  as  valid  in  the  revolutions 
of  the  most  distant  Planet,  as  on  the  Earth's  surface  in  the 
smallest  operation  of  Nature,  is  as  valid  now,  as  m  the  time  of 
Abraham,  and  was  as  valid  then  as  it  is  now.  Miracles  are 
possible,  because  to  God  all  things  are  possible,  but  there  is 
evidence  in  the  Field  of  Nature,  that  His  laws  are  not  ordinarily 
suspended.  We  cannot  assume,  that  our  Heavenly  Father 
dealt  in  a  different  way  with  His  poor  creatures  before  Anno 
Domini,  than  He  does  since  that  great  event.  We  have,  there- 
fore, to  weigh  in  a  Christian  balance  the  prodigies  recorded 
in  the  Legends  of  the  elder  world :  at  any  rate,  they  do 
not  happen  now. 

We  may  open  our  eyes  to  what  is  coming  when  we  read  in 


(       166       ) 

Dr.  Martineau's  "  Religion  of  Intellect,"  published  by  him  at 
the  age  of  85,  the  following: 

"A  conclusion  is  forced  upon  me,  on  which  I  cannot  dwell 
"  without  pain  and  dismay,  that  Christianity,  as  defined  and 
"  understood  by  <:?// the  churches  which  formulate  it,  has  been 
"  mainly  evolved  from  what  is  transient  and  perishable  in  its 
"  sources,  from  what  is  unhistorical  in  its  traditions,  mythological 
"  in  its  preconceptions,  and  misapprehended  in  the  oracles  of 
"  its  prophets.  From  the  fable  of  Eden  to  the  imagination 
"  of  the  last  trumpet,  the  whole  story  of  divine  order  of  the 
"  world  is  dislocated  and  deformed.  The  blight  of  birth-sm, 
"  with  its  involuntary  perdition ;  the  scheme  of  expiatory 
"  redemption,  with  its  vicarious  salvation ;  the  incarnation, 
"  with  its  low  postulates  of  the  relation  between  God  and  man, 
"and  its  unworkable  doctrine  of  two  natures  in  one  person; 
"  the  official  transmission  of  grace  through  material  elements 
"in  the  keeping  of  a  consecrated  corporation;  the  second 
"  coming  of  Christ  to  summon  the  dead,  and  part  the  sheep 
"  from  the  goats  at  the  general  Judgment :  all  are  the  growth 
"  of  a  mythical  literature,  or  IMessianic  dreams,  or  Pharisaic 
"  theology,  or  sacramental  literature,  or  popular  apotheosis. 
"  And  so  nearly  do  these  vain  imaginations  preoccupy  the 
"  creeds,  that  not  a  moral  or  spiritual  element  finds  entrance 
"  there  except  'the  forgiveness  of  sins.'  To  consecrate  and 
"  diffuse,  under  the  name  of  '  Christianity,'  a  theory  of  the 
"  world's  economy  thus  made  of  illusions  from  obsolete  stages 
"  of  civilization,  immense  resources,  material  and  moral,  are 
"  expended,  with  effect  no  less  deplorable  in  the  promise  of 
"  Religion  than  would  be  in  that  of  science,  hierarchies,  and 
"  missions  for  propagating  the  Ptolemaic  astronomy,  and  incul- 
"  eating  the  rules  of  necromancy  and  exorcising.  The  spreading 
"  alienation  of  the  intellectual  classes  of  European  society  from 
"  Christendom,  and  the  detention  of  the  rest  in  their  spiritual 
"  culture  at  a  level  not  much  above  that  of  the  Salvation-Army, 
"  are  social  phenomena,  which  ought  to  bring  home  a  very 
"  solemn  appeal  to  the  conscience  of  stationary  churches.  For 
"  their  long  arrear  of  debt  to  the  intelligence  of  mankind,  they 
"  adroitly  seek  to  make  amends  by  elaborate  beauty  of  Ritual  Art. 
"  The  apology  soothes  for  a  time,  but  it  will  not  last  for  ever." 
("Seat  of  Authority  in  Religion,"  p.  650.     Longman,  1890.) 

Five  years  later,  on  the  90th  anniversary  of  his  birth,  he 
replied  to  a  deputation  from  Manchester  College,  Oxford,  of 
which  he  had  been  a  Professor : 

"  He  could  not  too  much  insist  on  the  necessity  for  keeping 
"  the  teachers  of  Religion  iJi  touch  ivith  the  highest  thought  of 
"  their  time,  and  for  giving  them  an  insight  into  the  rival 
"  systems  which  too  often  take  hold  of  the  public  mind  through 


(      167      ) 

'  an  inability  on  the  part  of  the  people  generally  to  compare 
'  one  method  with  another.  He  had  always  insisted  upon  a  course 
'  of  logic  as  necessary  before  entering  upon  the  discussion 
'  of  Religious  philosophy;  he  recognised  more  and  more  how 
'  inevitably  the  basis  of  Christian  teaching  would  have  to  be 
'  sought  less  and  less  in  the  letter  of  Scripture.  The  Bible  and  New 
'  Testament  would  have  to  be  regarded  as  literature,  and  the 
'  mind  must  be  trained  so  as  to  fasten  securely  upon  the  abiding 
'  elements  among  its  varied  constituents;  while  the  Religious 
'  sense  must  be  cultivated,  if  we  would  hope  to  rescue  the 
'  imperishable  from  what  was  sure  to  go,  and  to  find  the  way 
'  clear  to  the  one  central  Divine  personality  of  Jesus." 

We  talk  of  Buddhism  being  defiled  by  the  contact  of  lower 
Pagan  elements  ;  but  has  not  Christianity  suffered  from  similar 
defilements  ?  Can  we  justify  some  of  the  accretions,  when  we 
consider  them  calmly  ?  It  is  admitted,  that  the  great  work  to 
be  performed  by  the  Christian  Religion  is  the  restraint  and 
correction  of  the  corrupt  nature  of  man,  and  yet  in  the  arguments 
used  in  theological  and  Religious  discussions  how  grave  appears 
the  corruption  of  the  Human  intellect,  so  merciless  to  op- 
ponents, full  of  excuses  for  facts  on  their  own  side,  which  cannot 
be  denied.  The  study  of  the  Comparative  Religion  of  the  world 
in  a  calm,  thoughtful,  and  judicial,  spirit  cannot  fail  to  open 
out  new  vistas  of  Religious  and  serious  thought,  and  a  tenderer 
love  to  our  fellow-creatures,  eventuating  in  a  greater  desire  to 
share  with  them  the  advantages  of  our  privileged  knowledge. 
"  Formality  in  Religion,  the  cold,  unintellectual,  or  even 
"  unintelligent,  assent  to  the  Church-Creed,  the  formality  of 
"  Public  Worship,  while  there  is  no  private  Worship  at  all,  is 
"rearing  a  crop  of  Atheism,  for  it  throws  the  veil  of  its  own 
"  respectability  over  unchristian,  godless,  lives,  eaten  up  by 
"  ambition,  greed,  or  love-of-ease."  These  are  the  words 
lately  uttered  by  a  Bishop  :  of  course  a  professor  of  Christianity 
of  the  type  sketched  by  the  Bishop,  when  brought  into  contact 
with  a  professor  of  a  non-Christian  Religion,  is,  or  pretends  to 
be,  greatly  shocked :  "  so  disreputable,  so  formal,  so  meaning- 
less," would  be  the  description  given  by  him  of  Hindu  Worship  ; 
yet  the  Hindu  would  say  very  much  the  same  of  Christian 
Worship  in  the  light,  in  which  he  would  regard  it.  Both  forget 
what  the  distinctive  feature  of  a  real  Religion  is :  nothing  less 
than  the  Soul's  response  to  the  Deity,  who  has  taken  notice 
of  the  Soul ;  a  loving  intercourse  of  the  closest,  and  sweetest 
character,  or  as  Paul  puts  it:  "the  body  is  the  temple  of  the 
Holy  Spirit."     2a/jf  and  rii'etyirt  are  united  in  one  entity. 

The  application  of  scientific  principles,  and  the  reflection 
of  the  order  of  events  in  Comparative  History,  cannot  fail  to 
influence  a  mind  capable  of  the  power  of  Reason  and  Analogy, 


(       168       ) 

whether  applied  to  the  study  of  an  Egyptian  excavation,  or  the 
examination  of  an  ancient  written  document.  The  Religions 
of  the  World  before  the  great  Anno  Domini,  instead  of  deserving 
censure  and  contempt,  stand  out  amidst  the  loftiest  conceptions 
of  the  Human  Intellect,  foreshadowing,  symbolizing,  preparing 
the  way  for,  the  coming  in  the  Fulness  of  Time  of  One  greater 
than  all. 

At  the  very  time  that  we  are  spelling  out  the  Inscriptions 
of  Assyria,  Babylonia,  the  Hittite.  the  Egyptian,  the  Indian, 
the  Yenissei  nations  of  Central  Asia,  the  Chinese,  and  the 
IMexican,  and  rendering  them  into  the  Languages  of  Europe, 
which  did  not  come  into  existence  till  centuries  after  the 
tablets  of  these  Inscriptions  had  fallen  out  of  Human  sight, 
and  recollection,  and  had  been  absolutely  forgotten  ;  at  this  very 
time  we  are  poring  over,  for  the  purpose  of  fixing  the  true 
text,  settling  the  true  order,  and  finding  out  the  right  meaning, 
the  MSS.  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures  in  Hebrew,  Aramaic, 
Samaritan,  Greek,  Latin,  Syriac,  Ethiopic,  Mseso-Gothic, 
Armenian,  Georgian,  and  Anglo-Saxon,  books,  parts  of  which 
are  contemporary  with  those  Inscriptions,  which  have  fallen 
out  of  sight,  but  which  by  God's  special  favour  to  some  of 
His  poor  creatures  have  never  fallen  out  of  the  thoughts  and 
lips,  and  pens,  of  generation  after  generation,  but  which  have 
grown  with  the  growth  of  each  Language,  twined  themselves 
round  the  hearts  of  each  Nation,  have  supplied  a  law  in  life, 
and  a  hope  in  death,  to  countless  Millions,  and  are  now  being 
rendered  into  the  Languages  of  hundreds  of  tribes,  whose 
existence  and  names  were  unknown  to  the  elder  world,  even 
to  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament,  being  only  darkly  hinted 
at  in  the  Book  of  the  Revelation  as  "  nations,  and  kindreds, 
and  tongues,"  which  were  to  come  into  existence  hereafter. 

We  must  recollect,  that  the  early  thoughts.  Religious  con- 
ceptions, and  Ancestral  Customs  before  King  Cyrus  broke  with 
the  Past,  were  National :  the  individual  went  for  nothing : 
if  a  Hebrew  had  dared  to  use  his  private  judgment,  he  would 
have  been  run  through  with  the  javelin  of  an  assassin,  such 
as  Phineas,  or  sent  to  the  rear  to  be  killed,  like  the  young 
Amalekite  murdered  by  David.  As  to  the  outside  world,  such 
as  India,  China,  Africa,  or  Europe,  the  Hebrew  knew  nothing. 
In  the  Religion  of  those  times  it  was  the  duty  of  the  local  deity 
to  look  after  the  welfare  of  his  worshippers,  just  as  the  local 
Romish  Saint  is  expected  to  look  after  the  village,  which  pays 
him,  or  her,  by  prayers,  offerings,  and  genuflexions.  The 
Worship  of  Yahveh  as  a  tribal  God  made  the  Hebrews  a  peculiar, 
and  peculiarly  offensive,  little  Nation,  surrounded  by  tribes,  who 
hated  them,  and  governed  by  a  combination  of  weak  and  yet 
tyrannical   kings,   under  the  casual    influence   of  irresponsible 


(       169       ) 

Prophets,  which  made  administration  impossible.  It  is  difficult 
to  imagine  how  commerce  could  have  thriven,  when  one  small 
tribe  assumed  such  a  ridiculous  attitude  towards  its  neighbours, 
expecting  the  most  perfect  Toleration,  and  giving  none.  The 
Hebrew  assumed,  and  rightly  assumed,  that  their  law  was 
given  to  them  by  their  God,  but  all  the  Races  of  the  ancient 
world  assumed  the  same  in  their  own  interest,  whether  the 
Assyrians  (II  Kings,  xviii,  25),  or  the  Egyptians  (II  Chronicles, 
XXXV,  21),  or  the  Hindus.  These  lines  are  penned  with  a 
double  object:  (i)  To  conciliate  some  interest  in  the  Religious 
conceptions  of  the  elder  World,  and  to  check  the  ignorant  abuse 
of  all,  who  have  not  had  the  small  grace  conceded  to  them  of 
wearing  the  cloak  of  outward  Christianity,  which  is  fondly 
supposed  by  the  Evangelical  middle  classes  to  co-exist  only 
with  the  social  customs  and  apparel  of  their  own  class,  and  their 
own  level  of  wisdom  or  unwisdom.  (2)  To  point  out  how 
reasonable  the  way  of  Salvation  traced  by  Christ  is,  if  we  can  only 
clear  it  of  the  Pagan  environment,  which  has  hardened  round 
the  living  germs :  the  real  secret  is,  that  we  in  these  happy 
generation  of  men  have  found  what  the  men  of  old,  in  spite  of 
their  goodness,  wisdom,  and  devotion,  blindly  felt  for,  and 
in  vain. 

In  argument  (oh  !  that  Missionaries  would  think  of  this  !) 
we  should  seek  the  common  ground,  on  which  both  sides  can 
stand,  the  Adamantine  Truth,  so  far  as  it  is  revealed  to  us  : 
those,  who  have  recourse  to  abusive  language,  show  that  their 
resources  of  argument  are  exhausted  ;  the  most  ignorant  clergy 
are  always  the  most  arrogant.  I  quote  an  anonymous  writer  : 
"  It  is  the  fancy  of  an  ignorant  man,  that  Creation  was  made 
"  for  him :  there  are  few  things,  of  which  he  is  so  utterly 
"  ignorant,  and  of  which  he  thinks  so  little,  as  that  mystery 
"  of  Himself,  incarnated  in  the  temporary  prison-house  of  his 
"  flesh  and  blood."  No  prison-house  is  so  fast-bound  as  the 
bondage  of  ignorance,  false  preconceptions,  and  obstinate 
refusal  to  give  play  to  Sanctified  Reason. 

Even  among  men,  professing  the  same  Religion,  belonging 
to  the  same  Church,  there  are  found  the  strongest  differences  in 
the  very  essentials  of  Religious  Belief  and  Worship  ;  there  are 
men  of  cultivated  and  uncultivated  minds,  of  strong,  and 
weak  intellectual  power :  so  of  Races  some  are  stupid  and 
lethargic ;  some  wonderfully  quick  in  apprehension,  and 
mercurial  :  the  effect  of  climate  has  to  be  considered  also, 
the  social  environment,  access  to,  or  seclusion  from,  foreign 
contact,  degree  of  leisure,  or  total  absorption  in  lawful  worldly 
business.  Every  mirror  does  not  reflect  the  object  with  the 
same  degree  of  clearness,  but  all  do  reflect :  so  the  sweet 
reasonableness    of    the    doctrine    promulgated    in    Galilee    is 


(      170      ) 

intelligible  by,  and  is  good  for,  all,  whatever  may  be  their 
degree  of  culture,  or  want  of  culture,  on  whatever  platform  they 
may  be  standing  of  wisdom  or  unwisdom.  This  cannot  be 
said  of  the  other  two  Universal  Propagandist  Conceptions :  in 
Buddhism  there  is  no  God,  and  it  cannot  therefore  coexist 
with  modern  culture,  which  postulates  the  existence  of  a  God. 
Islam  fails,  as  unable  to  free  itself  from  the  bondage  of 
Paganism  in  still  inculcating  the  worship  of  a  stone,  the  Kaaba, 
at  Mekka,  in  still  enforcing  the  degrading  rite  of  mutilating 
the  body  of  the  male  sex,  made  in  God's  own  image,  and  in 
refusal  to  elevate  the  female  sex  to  the  full  dignity  of  a  com- 
panion to  man  by  the  hateful  practice  of  Polygamy,  and  cannot 
therefore  coexist  with  modern  social  and  civilized  conditions. 

The  Jewish  Idea  of  God  was  purified  by  contact  in  the  Schools 
of  Alexandria  with  Greek  Philosophy,  especially  Platonic. 
Anthropomorphic  Ideas  (which  disfigure  the  Old  Testament) 
were  discarded,  and  the  Logos  introduced  as  intermediary 
between  God,  the  author  of  all  good,  and  matter  which 
is  transitory  and  evil.  (Conybeare's  Review  of  Friedlander's 
'*  Entstehung  Geschichte  " —Jewish  Quarterly  Review,  April, 
1895,  p.  554.) 

The  World  has  not  yet  learnt  to  understand  the  man,  who 
places  Christ  above  all  the  shibboleths  of  Churches,  who  cares 
a  great  deal  for,  in  fact  has  no  thought  for  anything  but,  Re- 
ligion, yet  places  no  value  on  particular  Church-organization. 
There  is  so  much  hypocrisy,  time-serving,  fashion,  carelessness 
of  all  things,  and  pretence  to  be  righteous,  and  therefore  to 
be  ready  with  damnatory  opinions  of  our  neighbours.  It  is 
well  to  include  among  the  real  followers  of  Christ  all  the  good 
and  wise  of  all  ages,  whether  thev  ran  their  mental  course  before 
the  great  Anno  Domini,  and  only  saw  Him  far  off,  or  whether 
they  tried  humbly  to  follow  Him.  It  would  be  well  for  us  all 
to  read  and  ponder  over  the  following  extract  from  Bishop 
Beveridge's  "  Private  Thoughts  on  Religion,"  Part  I,  Art.  2  : 

"The  general  inclinations,  which  are  naturally  implanted 
"  in  my  soul,  to  some  Religion  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  shift  off; 
"but  there  being  such  a  multiplicity  of  Religions  in  the  world, 
"  I  desire  now  seriously  to  consider  with  myself  to  which  of  them 
"  all  to  restrain  these  my  general  inclinations.  And  the  reason 
"  of  this  my  enquiry  is  not,  that  I  am  in  the  least  dissatisfied  with 
"  that  Religion  I  have  already  embraced  ;  but  because  'tis  7iatural 
*^  for  all  7nen  to  have  an  overbearmg  opinion  and  esteem  for  that 
''  particular  Religiojt  they  are  born  and  bred  up  in.  That,  therefore, 
"  I  may  not  seem  biassed  by  the  prejudice  of  education,  I  am 
"  resolved  to  prove  and  examine  them  all ;  that  I  may  see  and 
"  hold  fast  to  that  which  is  best 

"Indeed,  there  was   never  any   Religion   so    barbarous    and 


(      171      ) 

"  diabolical,  but  it  was  preferred  before  all  other  Religions 
"  whatsoever  by  them  that  did  profess  it ;  otherwise  they  would 
"  not  have  professed  it 

"  And  why,  say  they,  may  not  you  be  mistaken  as  well  as  we  ? 
"  Especially  when  there  is,  at  least,  six  to  one  against  your 
"  Christian  Religion  ;  all  of  whom  think  they  serve  God  aright ; 

"  and    expect  happiness   thereby  as  well    as  you And 

*'  hence  it  is  that  in  my  looking  out  for  the  truest  Religion,  being 
"  conscious  to  myself  how  great  an  ascendant  Christianity  holds 
"  over  me  beyond  the  rest,  as  being  that  Religion,  whereinto 
"  I  was  born  and  baptized,  that  which  the  supreme  authority 
"  has  enjoined  and  my  parents  educated  me  in  ;  that  which 
"  everyone  I  meet  with  all  highly  approve  of,  and  which  I 
"  myself  have,  by  a  long-continued  profession,  made  almost 
•'  natural  to  me  :  I  am  resolved  to  be  more  jealous  and  suspicious 
"  of  this  Religion,  than  of  the  rest,  and  be  sure  not  to  enter- 
"  tain  it  any  longer  without  being  convinced,  by  solid  and 
"  substantial  arguments,  of  the  truth  and  certainty  of  it.  That, 
"therefore,  I  may  make  diligent  and  impartial  enquiry  into 
"  all  Religions,  and  so  be  sure  to  find  out  the  best,  I  shall  for 
"  a  time  look  upon  myself  as  one  not  at  all  interested  in  any 
"  particular  Religion  whatsoever,  much  less  in  the  Christian 
"  Religion  ;  but  only  as  one  who  desires,  in  general,  to  serve 
"and  obey  Him  that  made  me,  in  a  right  manner,  and  thereby 
"  to  be  made  partaker  of  that  happiness  my  nature  is  capable  of." 

A  great  French  Author,  who  has  lately  died,  has  left  us 
these  remarks  in  a  posthumous  work  :  let  us  all  reflect  upon 
them,  and  ask  ourselves  whether  as  regards  the  exterior  form 
of  every  Religious  conception  it  is  not  sadly  true.  (Renan, 
"  Israel,"  v,  p.  io6.) 

"  Religion  is  a  necessary  imposture  :  no  means  of  throwing 
"  dust  into  the  eyes  can  be  neglected  in  dealing  with  such  a 
"  race  of  fools,  as  the  Human  Race,  who  seem  created  for  the 
"  purpose  of  imbibing  error,  and  who,  even  when  they  admit 
"  the  Truth,  never  do  so  for  the  real  good  reasons."  The  great 
majority  think  nothing  about  the  reasons  of  their  Belief:  they 
accept  it. 

The  Holy  Spirit  speaks  in  the  Written  Word,  and  to  the 
conscience  and  intelligence  of  all,  but  He  speaks  as  much  now 
to  hearts,  which  have  accepted  Him,  as  He  did  by  the  mouths 
of  Prophets,  holy  men  of  old:  there  is  an  unbroken  continuity 
of  Revelation,  and  Illumination,  unrestricted  by  time  or  space  : 
the  Religious  experiences  of  the  sanctified  thinkers  of  the 
present  age  are  entitled  to  as  much  respect  as  those  of  the 
ignorant  Hebrew  a  few  centuries  before  Anno  Domini,  or  the 
early  Christian  Fathers  of  the  few  centuries  after  Anno  Domini, 
whose  view   of  the  World  and  mankind   was   limited  to  their 


(       172       ) 

own  environment.  It  is  quite  clear,  that  there  is  a  distinction 
between  the  Word  of  God,  which  unquestionably  exists  in 
Holy  Scripture,  and  the  assertion,  that  the  Scriptures  in  their 
totality  are  absolutely  the  Word  of  God.  There  is  a  great 
deal  in  Professor  Driver's  remarks,  that  the  proper  expression 
is,  "the  Word  of  God  mediatized  by  Human  instrumentality"; 
the  book  itself  is  not  inspired,  but  the  men,  who  wrote  it, 
were  inspired. 

That  only  one-third  of  the  population  of  the  Globe  is  even 
nominally  Christian,  is  a  lamentable  fact  to  record  at  the  close 
of  the  Nineteenth  Century  after  Anno  Domini.  Boasting  is 
excluded.  The  period  of  the  Jewish  Dispensation,  from  Moses 
to  Anno  Domini,  barely  covered  twelve  centuries.  In  that 
Record  there  was  nothing  but  Ritual,  Miracles,  Theophanies, 
Prophecies,  Cruelty,  Persecution,  Disobedience  of  the  Divine 
Law,  and  Ignorance  of  a  Future  State  of  Rewards  and  Punish- 
ments. The  Sadducees,  including  the  Priests,  denied  the 
Resurrection  till  the  last,  as  is  clear  from  the  account  of 
Paul's  trial  at  Jerusalem  (Acts,  xxiii,  8). 

One  of  the  greatest  features  of  the  present  Epoch,  the  close 
of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  is  the  Historical  Spirit,  and  the 
domain  of  History  has  been  enlarged  by  extending  historical 
principles,  and  critical  analysis,  to  the  History  of  Religion. 
Up  to  this  time,  Christians  on  such  subjects  had  a  distinct  bias 
one  way,  and  violent  opponents  of  Christianity  went  to  the 
other  extreme.  They  are  now  taken  up  in  a  cold,  secular,  im- 
partial spirit ;  evidence  is  weighed,  legends  exposed,  falsehoods 
called  by  their  right  name.  The  Church  of  Rome  very  soon 
recognised  in  such  writers  their  real  and  greatest  enemies, 
for  the  History  of  Religion,  truly  told,  struck  a  blow  at  the 
exaggerated  assertions  of  Revelation  and  the  Supernatural, 
thus  alienating  the  grossly  superstitious,  but  attracting  the 
really  devout  seekers  after  God.  A  new  taste  was  thus  created, 
and  the  new  Science  of  Religion  sprang  into  existence.  Some 
illusions  have  been  dispersed  ;  great  and  ?nighly  Truths  stand 
out  in  their  full  proportions.  The  Philosophy  of  History  has 
been  correctly  described,  as  being  only  an  attempted  inter- 
pretation of  the  acts,  and  thoughts,  and  works,  of  men  in  past 
ages  by  the  modes  of  thought  and  accepted  standard  and 
principles  of  our  own.  INIen  in  the  times  of  the  wars  of 
Assyria  and  Egypt,  of  King  Asoka  in  India,  of  the  Emperors 
of  China  in  the  time  of  Kong-Fu-Tsee,  were  men  of  like 
passions,  powers,  and  weaknesses  as  ourselves,  and  the  Ruler 
of  the  World  was  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever. 
It  may  be,  that  at  the  close  of  the  Twentieth  Century,  other 
interpretations  may  be  made  according  to  fresh,  and  hitherto 
undeveloped,  standards  of  our  acts  and  writings  at  the  present 


(       173       ) 

moment.  During  the  period  of  a  long  life,  the  standard  of 
most  individuals,  their  prejudices,  and  predilections,  have 
undergone  change,  and  that  change  tends  to  increase :  "  The 
thoughts  of  men  grow  wider  with  the  progress  of  the  Sun." 
Facts  are  the  only  things  which  remain,  facts  proved  by 
sufficient  evidence,  to  outlive  all  generations.  Where  Tradition 
or  Faith  comes  in,  we  seem  to  be  walking  on  a  quagmire. 

Mr.  Green,  the  Historian,  remarked  that,  when  he  left 
Arthur  Stanley's  lecture-room  at  Oxford,  he  used  to  reflect  on 
how  many  Faiths  and  Persons  the  lecturer  had  discoursed,  and 
how  he  had  taught  his  readers  to  love  the  Truth  that  ivas  in  ihim 
all.  To  Socrates,  and  Plato,  the  Unknown  God  was  revealed  : 
the  Human  mind  cannot  reach  to  more  profound  Truths  than 
those,  which  they  had  attained  :  they  saw,  or  seemed  to  see, 
through  the  mystery  of  the  Universe,  but  we  know  now,  that 
they  were  but  the  advance-guard  of  something  infinitely  greater. 
The  Idea  has  been  hazarded,  but  by  some,  who  have  not 
studied  History,  past  and  present  Ethnology,  Language, 
Religious  conceptions,  ancestral  customs,  remains  of  Antiquity 
in  the  whole  of  the  Round  World,  that  Christ  came  in  the 
Fulness  of  Time,  when  the  Religious  Education  of  the  most 
progressive  Races  of  J\Iankind  was  sufficiently  advanced  to 
appreciate  the  Doctrine  which  He  brought. 
But  was  it  so  } 

What  is  called  in  general  parlance  the  World  is  larger  than 
the  basin  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  the  countries  on  its  shores 
within  the  limits  of  the  Danube,  the  Black  and  Caspian  Seas,  the 
Euphrates,  the  Sahara,  and  the  Atlantic.  For  many  centuries 
the  name  even  of  Christ  did  not  penetrate  beyond  the  area 
thus  defined,  viz  ,  the  Roman  Empire,  and  the  Regions  of  the 
Kelts,  Teutons,  and  Slavs.  India  and  China  were  far  advanced 
in  civilization  even  then,  but  Gospel-Tidings  never  reached 
them.  According  to  the  Divine  Plan  it  was  the  Fulness  of 
Time,  but  this  term  did  not  imply  the  throwing  open  of  the 
whole  Globe.  And  now  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  when  the 
whole  round  World  is  thrown  open,  the  dead  weight  of  Paganism 
increases  annually  by  the  mere  generation  of  children,  the 
repression  of  slaughter  by  overpowering  Races,  the  precaution 
taken  against  Famines,  and  the  Remedial  INIeasures  against 
Disease.  New  germs  of  Religious  conception  have  found  Life 
and  Development,  and  greater  enemies  to  Christianity  have 
come  into  existence  in  the  form  of  IMahometanism,  Papalism,  and 
Agnosticism.  The  last  state  of  the  World  is  infinitely  worse 
than  the  first.  If  the  watchman  were  asked,  "  what  of  the  night  T'' 
the  reply  would  be,  "  very  dismal  indeed  "  :  if  Evangelization 
were  a  mere  commercial  undertaking,  it  had  better  be  abandoned. 
Nothing,  however,  is  impossible  to  God,  but  the  foolish  boasting 


(      174      ) 

of  the  Missionary  platform,  and  the  deceptive  sensational 
literature,  are  excluded.  The  descendant  of  the  ancient 
Egyptian,  if  there  is  one,  will  point  to  the  Pyramids,  and  the 
long  succession  of  magnificent  Monuments,  which  have  lasted 
five,  six,  or  seven  thousand  years ;  he  will  point  out  that  to 
him  the  world  is  indebted  for  the  germ  of  the  Alphabet,  for  the 
earliest  Idea  of  a  Future  State  of  Rewards  and  Punishments, 
an  Idea  which  the  vaunting  Hebrews  till  the  time  of  the  Exile 
knew  not  of. 

The  descendant  of  the  Greek  Race,  if  there  is  one  of  the 
true  stock,  will  point  to  the  Works  of  their  Dramatists,  their 
Philosophers,  their  Historians,  the  foundation  of  all  Science, 
the  fountain  of  all  Poetry,  the  mine  of  all  Eloquence,  the 
groundwork  of  the  Intellect  of  Future  ages  :  what  form  would 
Christianity  have  assumed,  if  the  mould  of  Plato  had  not  been 
ready  to  receive  the  pure  Semitic  ore  .''  What  does  Augustine 
of  Hippo  say  on  this  subject  ? 

Is  there  any  product  of  English  Art,  or  Intellect,  which  is 
likely  to  live  as  long,  or  outlive,  the  great  Egyptian  and  Greek 
Legacies  to  mankind  ? 

It  may  be  said  defiantly,  that  the  Greek  and  Egyptian  have 
passed  away;  but  consider  the  Religious  conceptions  and  the 
material  structure  of  the  Hindu  and  Confucianist,  still 
influencing  millions,  evidencing  no  sign  of  decay.  The  Hindu 
system,  absorbing  annually  thousands  of  Nature-worshippers, 
is  still  in  situ :  ancient  Inscriptions,  speaking  from  walls,  from 
rocks,  from  caves,  point  to  the  imperishable  monuments  of 
Grammatical  Method,  the  development  of  the  Al])habet,  the 
invention  of  numerals.  Consider  also  the  Poets,  the  Dramatists, 
the  Philosophers,  and  lastly  their  spiritual  descendants,  the 
Buddhists,   the  greatest  in   the  present  Epoch  in   numbers. 

The  earnest  and  honest  Christian  preacher  seems  sometimes 
not  so  much  to  strive  to  deliver  a  man  from  the  just  judgment  of 
God  for  his  sins,  as  to  deliver  him  over  to  the  still  more  just 
judgment  for  refusing  to  accept  the  pardon  held  out  to  him  : 
the  last  state  of  the  non-Christian  man  is  made  worse  than 
the  first :  in  the  first  state  it  was  ignorance,  the  result  of  long 
social  isolation  ;  in  the  second  state  it  is  stubborn  refusal  to 
accept  a  free  offer :  it  would  have  been  better  thus  for  the  man, 
if  he  had  not  received  the  Gospel-invitation  like  his  ancestors 
for  hundreds  of  generations ;  he  has  been  called  into  the  Light 
only  to  be  scorched  by  that  Light,  and  to  receive  more  certain 
damnation  :  it  is  an  awful  problem  ;  we  can  only  fall  back  on 
the  unlimited  Wisdom  and  Pity  of  the  Creator  towards  His 
poor  creatures. 

In  T/ie  Expositor  of  July,  1893,  PP-  49-  5°,  there  appeared 
a  paper  by  the  Rev.  H.  Rashdall,  on  "  Abelard's  Doctrine  of 


(       175      ) 

the  Atonement,"  which  I  have  condensed,  preserving-  the 
original  idea.  The  Church  of  our  day  is  called  upon  to 
reduce  Christian  teaching  to  an  intelligent,  systematic,  and 
coherent  body  of  philosophical  doctrine.  The  Human  mind 
has  awakened  from  a  long  slumber,  and  insists,  that  the 
traditional  dogmas  of  Christianity  should  give  an  account  of 
themselves.  It  is  a  noble  and  stimulating  Idea  to  create  a 
Science  of  the  highest  generalization,  that  should  present  the 
deposit  of  traditional  and  historic  Faith  in  its  due  relation 
to  other  branches  of  Knowledge,  accepting  and  forming  into 
itself  the  Highest  and  Greatest  Truth,  that  is  known  from  what- 
ever source,  of  God,   the  World,   and   Man. 

Darwinism  and  Historical  Criticism  present  a  new  starting- 
point  :  the  reconstruction  of  Christian  Doctrine  is  the  great 
intellectual  task  of  modern  Christianity,  and  it  must  be  done, 
if  Christianity  is  to  retain  its  hold  on  the  Intellect,  as  well  as 
on  the  sentiment  and  social  activities  of  the  time.  The 
Religious  conception,  which  has  lost  its  hold  on  the  Intellect, 
will  not  long  retain  its  hold  on  the  social  activities.  No  two 
ages  can  ever  be  exactly  alike  :  the  wants  of  one  age  are  some- 
times found  to  have  been  anticipated,  but  the  old  Truth  is 
differently  expressed  from  the  modern. 

The  same  writer,  at  the  Church  Congress,  1894,  expressed 
himself  in  this  way : 

"  It  cannot  be  too  distinctly  understood,  that  the 
"  originality  of  Christianity  is  not  to  be  disproved,  by  show- 
"  ing  that  some  of  the  most  characteristic  utterances  of  the 
"  Gospel  maxims  can  be  more  or  less  closely  paralleled 
"  by  isolated  sayings  in  Pagan  moralists  or  non-Christian 
"  Sacred  Books.  The  unique  claim,  which  Christianity  makes, 
"  alike  in  Theology  and  in  Ethics,  is  to  absorb  into  itself, 
"  to  harmonize  and  combine,  all  that  is  true  and  per- 
"  manently  valuable  in  previous  systems,  or,  to  speak  in 
"  Religious  language,  in  previous  and  partial  revelations  of 
"  God.  And,  first,  a  word  as  to  the  sense,  in  which  alone 
"  Christianity  claims  to  be  in  any  sense  a  complete  or  ethical 
"  revelation.  If  our  Lord  and  His  immediate  followers  had 
"  pretended  to  set  forth  an  Ethical  Code,  which  in  detail  should 
"  anticipate  the  course  of  intellectual  and  social  development, 
"  and  contain  definite  rules  of  conduct  capable  of  immediate 
"  application  alike  to  the  Slave-holding  Society  of  the  ancient 
"  world,  to  the  feudal  society  of  the  eleventh  century,  and  to 
"  the  conditions  of  modern  England,  the  Teacher  who  made 
"  such  an  attempt  would  be  justly  chargeable  with  having  mis- 
"  conceived  the  very  nature  of  the  new  message  to  Mankind." 
The  difficulty  in  dealing  with  such  discussions  as  these  is,  that 
the  one  side  believes  everything,  and  the  other  nothing,  whereas 


(      176      ) 

the  Truth  is  in  the  midst.  An  old  archdeacon,  a  few  years 
before  his  death,  confessed  to  me,  that  he  could  no  longer 
justify  the  morals  of  King  David  and  King  Solomon,  as  he 
had  done,  when  he  took  Holy  Orders,  for  then  the  Scriptures, 
and  all  matters  connected  with  Religion,  were  removed  out  of 
the  orbit  of  Human  events,  and  the  Hebrew  Story  and  Books 
were  deemed  to  be  unique  in  the  History  of  the  World. 

Professor  Huxley  attached  the  following  meaning  to 
Agnosticism,  which  he  defines  not  as  a  creed  but  a  method: 
The  essence  of  the  method  is  as  old  as  Socrates,  and  reinforced 
by  Descartes,  and  the  fundamental  maxim  of  Modern  Science. 
The  principle  may  be  expressed  Positively  :  in  matters  of 
Intellect  follow  your  reason,  as  far  as  it  will  take  you,  without 
regard  to  any  other  consideration.  Negatively :  in  matters  of 
the  Intellect  do  not  pretend  that  conclusions  are  certain,  which 
are  not  demonstrated,  or  demonstrable.  (Athenaeum,  May  4, 
1895,  par.  672.) 

Can  we  imagine  any  Native  Sovereign  of  an  Indian  Kingdom 
conducting  his  affairs  in  the  manner  described  in  the  Books 
of  Kings  and  Chronicles  ?  one  Sovereign  putting  up  altars  to 
one  set  of  Deities,  and  compelling  the  people  to  worship  ;  in  a 
few  years  his  son  pulls  them  all  down,  and  puts  to  death  the 
Priests,  while  irresponsible  herdsmen,  or  ascetics,  appear  and 
disappear  at  intervals  threatening  the  kings,  and  inciting  his 
subjects  to  rebellion :  can  we  wonder  that  utter  ruin  of  such 
a  political  system  was  the  consequence  ? 

The  teaching  of  Christ,  in  whom  was  centred  all  Wisdom, 
Human  as  well  as  Divine,  was  not  political :  He  did  not  object 
to  pay  tribute  as  a  subject  to  an  Earthly  Emperor ;  he  preached 
no  narrow  Theocracy  of  one  petty  tribe  amidst  the  Millions 
of  Mankind,  as  if  the  whole  world  was  not,  and  always  had 
been,  governed  by  God.  A  secular  Monarchy  is  a  wiser  and 
safer  Minister  of  God's  decrees  than  a  debased  Priesthood, 
whether  at  Jerusalem  or  Rome,  Constantinople  or  Lassa :  Christ 
came  into  the  world,  not  for  restoration  of  the  Hebrew 
Kingdom,  but  for  the  happiness  of  all  God's  poor  children  :  His 
Kingdom  was  not  of  this  world  ;  and  rested  on  Man's  love  of 
God,  and  Love  of  his  neighbour ;  there  were  to  be  no  longer 
circumcised  Jews,  or  uncircumcised  Gentiles.  Mankind,  through 
His  teaching  in  its  entirety,  and  most  remote  futurity,  were  to 
be  set  free  from  the  bondage  of  Sin,  secret  and  open,  of 
merciless  and  capricious  fanatic  Rulers,  of  old-world  exploded 
notions  of  ceremonial  cleanness  and  uncleanness,  which  had 
vexed  the  elder  Nations,  and  vexes  the  Hindu  Millions  still, 
of  Puritanic  Sabbaths,  washing  of  pots  and  pans,  consecrated 
hypocrisy,  domineering  Priesthoods,  whom  He  called  a  genera- 
tion of  Vipers.     He  abolished  the  fear  of  Death :  "  Fear  not 


(    1"   ) 

those  who  kill  the  body,"  and  placed  the  doctrine  of  a  Future 
State  of  Rewards  and  Punishments  on  a  basis,  that  can  never 
be  shaken. 

If  the  object  of  Religion  is  to  bring  Peace  into  the  world, 
to  protect  the  rights  of  the  weak,  to  maintain  purity  of  morals 
between  the  sexes,  to  bring  down  the  proud,  and  exalt  the 
humble  and  the  weak,  it  must  be  admitted  that : 

I.  It  has  as  entirely  failed  in  its  object,  as  the  Jewish  Theocracy 
of  the  Kingdom  of  Israel  and  Judah. 

II.  The  precepts  of  all  Religions  have  been  above  the 
heads,  and  beyond  the  comprehension,  of  the  great  majority 
of  mankind,  even  if  they  had  wished  to  understand  them. 

III.  Each  Religious  Conception,  succeeding  its  predecessor 
in  order  of  time,  has  unconsciously,  but  yet  tenaciously,  absorbed 
so  much  of  the  rank  vegetation  of  its  predecessor,  that  its 
power  of  doing  good  has  been  choked,  or  absolutely  destroyed. 

IV.  At  all  periods  of  History  and  at  the  present  moment, 
there  have  existed  those  to  whom  all  Religious  Conceptions, 
or  dogmatic  creeds,  are  equally  false,  and  yet  who  make  use 
of  them  to  influence  and  control  their  foolish  contemporaries, 
for  in  their  opinion  the  sole  object  of  Religious  Conceptions 
and  dogmas  has  been  to  deceive  the  unlearned,  and  keep  them 
in  subjection. 

But  what  of  the  Future  ?  Nothing  is  known,  as  a  fact.  By 
what  measure  will  the  dead,  as  they  rise  from  the  grave,  be 
judged  in  the  great  hall  of  adjudication  ?  Will  it  be  a  question 
of  empty  rites  and  habiliments  ?  Will  not  those,  who  have 
wasted  their  lives  in  controversy  about  matters  as  trivial  as  the 
tithe  of  anise  and  cummin,  moan,  that  they  have  never  known 
Christ  ?  Dost  thou  believe  in  Christ,  and  Him  crucified  ?  That 
will  perhaps  be  the  question.  Hast  thou  loved  God  and  thy 
neighbours  ?  That  will  certainly  be  the  qualification.  The 
secret  is  unrevealed ;  the  mystery  is  as  dark  as  in  the  time  of 
the  construction  of  the  Egyptian  Pyramids. 

"  Where  wert  thou,  Brother,  those  four  days  ? 

"  There  lives  no  record  of  reply, 

"  Which  telling  what  it  is  to  die 
"  Had  surely  added  praise  to  praise. 


"  Behold  a  man  raised  up  by  Christ ! 
"  The  rest  remaineth  unrevealed  : 
•*  He  told  it  not ;  or  something  sealed 

"  The  lips  of  the  Evangelist." 

(Tennyson  :  /«  Memonam,  xxxi.' 


(      178      ) 

Just  as  I  was  laying  down  my  pen,  and  adding  a  few 
references  and  quotations,  a  friend  to  wiiom  I  described  my 
work,  mentioned  a  book  by  the  late  Viscount  Amberley,  "  An 
Analysis  of  Religious  Belief,  1876,"  covering  the  same  ground, 
which  I  had  never  seen,  nor  heard  of:  I  at  once  sent  for  it, 
and  read  it  as  far  as  my  subject  goes :  in  his  last  300  pages 
he  describes  the  great  sages  before  Anno  Domini :  I  gather 
from  the  address  to  the  Reader  by  a  third  person  unknown, 
that  the  Author  died  before  the  book  appeared,  and  "that  he 
had  parted  with  portions  of  that  Faith,  which  in  boyhood, 
and  early  youth,  had  been  the  mainspring  of  his  life.  I 
myself,  see  no  reason,  why  such  an  inquiry,  purely  historical, 
as  he  made,  and  such  as  I  have  made  twenty  years  later,  with 
wider  knowledge  of  the  East,  and  of  the  ancient  Religions 
of  the  World  than  he  could  have  had,  should  lead  to  the  least 
doubt  as  to  the  absolute  Truth  of  Christianity :  if  I  thought 
so,  I  should  drop  the  pen  at  once. 

The  Author  has  made  a  very  good  analysis  as  far  as  it  goes. 
His  division  of  the  Subject  into  "  Communications  Upward," 
and  "  Communications  Downward,"  is  ingenious  and  useful 
(page  15). 


I.  Upward. 

A. 

Consecrated  Actions     . 

•     (i' 

Prayer. 

i^) 

Sacrifice. 

(3) 

Ritual. 

(4) 

Festivals. 

(5) 

Initiatory-rites. 

(6) 

Puberty-rites. 

(7) 

Matrimonial-rites. 

(8. 

Funeral-rites. 

B. 

Consecrated  Places  .     . 

•     (I 

)  Temples. 

(2 

)  Shrines. 

C. 

Consecrated  Objects     . 

•     (I 

)  Garments. 

(2: 

Tablets. 

(3; 

Temple-furniture. 

(4 

)  Fetich. 

(5 

)  Land. 

D. 

Consecrated  Persons    . 

.     (I 

)  Ascetics. 

(2 

)  Monks  and  Nuns 

(3 

)  Devotees. 

(4 

)  Fakirs. 

E.  Consecrated  Mediator 


Priest. 


II.  Downward. 
A.  Holy  Events    .     . 


B.  Holy  Places 

C.  Holy  Objects 

D.  Holy  Orders  , 

E.  Holy  Persons 


Dreams. 

Omens. 

Divination. 

Ordeals. 

Miracles. 

Groves  and  Trees. 
Graves. 

Fetich. 

Amulets. 

Relics. 

Priests. 
Faith  Healers. 
Inspired  Persons. 

Rainmakers. 

Prophets. 

Writers  of  Sacred  Books. 


Let  me  add  a  quotation  : 

"  We  love  what  we  are  used  to.  We  revere  the  ancient.  We 
all  have  roots  in  the  venerable  Past.  This  is  well.  Yet  the 
grandest  arena  of  God's  working  is  the  future.  A  Christian's 
treasure  should  be  there.  Ours  is  a  Religion  of  hope,  of 
expectation,  an  onlooking  to  golden  ages  yet  to  come. 
Blessed  were  those  Jews  in  our  Lord's  time  who  stood 
waiting  for  His  coming  ready  to  receive  Him  with  open 
hearts.  Blessed  too  are  the  foreseeifig  men  and  women  of  all 
ages,  who  are  always  watching  for  the  morning ;  praying 
for  great  things,  w^orking  for  great  things,  expecting  great 
things ;  bending  forward  and  listening  for  the  prophetic 
voices ;  quick  to  see  the  great  light  in  the  heavens,  when  it 
first  gilds  the  tops  of  the  eastern  hills." 

But  what  about  the  Future  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  upon 
Earth  ?  will  it  bear  the  strain  of  the  Twentieth  Century  }  The 
Words  of  Christ,  and  the  Life  of  Christ,  are  indeed  good  for 
all  time,  because  in  them  is  the  supreme  essence  of  good,  but 
the  form,  in  which  those  words  were  delivered,  the  environment 
in  which  that  Life  was  manifested,  was  adapted  to  the  com- 
prehension of  Syrian  Peasants,  and  was  levelled  against  the 
low,  narrow-minded  degradation  of  Hebrew  Priests,  and  cannot 
be  deemed  binding  upon  all  generations  of  men  in  after  ages, 
endued,  as  they  are,  with  enlarged  spiritual  gifts,  more  exalted 


(       180       ) 

Divine  leadinq-s,  and  greater  Human  possibilities.  His  Spirit 
worked  witli  His  Apostles  John  and  Paul,  and  enabled  the 
former  to  recall,  after  an  interval  of  forty  years,  words  of  the 
IMaster  previously  unrecorded,  and  one  mighty  miracle,  which 
had  apparently  never  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  earlier 
Evangelists  ;  with  the  latter  that  Spirit  worked  in  the  develop- 
ment of  theories  entirely  new,  of  which  there  is  no  fore- 
shadowing, or  even  germ,  in  the  three  first  Gospels,  though 
they  were  written  at  a  date  later  than  Paul's  Epistles,  in  which 
those  theories,  setting  aside  the  Mosaic  dispensation,  are 
stated.  At  the  last  verse  of  the  New  Testament  an  absolute 
line  must  be  drawn.  It  must  be  presumed  that  the  work  of 
Inspiration  is  closed  for  ever,  through  the  agency  of  Prophets 
and  Apostles. 

It  suited  the  powers.  Civil  and  Ecclesiastical,  of  Rome  and 
Constantinople,  to  erect  a  new  edifice  on  Hellenic,  Judaeic, 
and  Pagan  foundations,  and  to  publish  Edicts,  backed  by 
anathemas  and  intolerant  savagery.  The  world  is  not  the 
worse  for  those  terrible  anathemas,  and  understands  how-  far 
removed  from  the  fundamental  precepts  of  Christianity  those 
men  must  have  been,  who  attempted  to  enforce  Spiritual 
doctrines  by  the  help  of  carnal  penalties  and  disabilities. 
Their  game  at  the  end  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  is  played 
out ;  there  is  an  Arab  Proverb,  that  Curses,  like  foul  birds, 
come  home  at  night  to  roost  in  the  nest,  which  they  left  in 
the  morning.  The  Christian  is  not  in  bondage  to  an  ignorant 
and  superstitious  Past :  he  is,  indeed,  the  heir  of  all  the  ages, 
but  he  has  the  grace  conceded  to  him  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ, 
which  is  immanent  in  each  of  God's  poor  creatures,  who 
have  accepted  Him,  to  use  his  inheritance,  his  privileges, 
and  opportunities  wisely. 

I  doubt  not,  that  the  nascent  Churches  of  Asia,  Africa,  and 
Oceania,  will  assert  their  right  to  sweep  away  the  accretions 
of  ignorant,  arrogant,  mediaeval,  European  Christianity,  and 
go  back  to  the  words  and  example  of  their  Master,  who  lived 
anji  died  amidst  Asiatics  in  Asia.  New  forms  of  Christianity 
may  appear  from  an  Asiatic  matrix,  and  free  themselves  from 
the  effete  ligaments  of  mediceval  Europe. 


(       181       ) 


atiaptcD  from  tf)t  pttm\h 

Abraham  was  seated  just  outside  his  tent. 
Expecting  friends,  on  social  cheer  intent : 
Before  his  eyes  an  ancient  man  appears, 
Weighed  down  with  burden  of  long  miles,  and  years 
Abraham  in  Oriental  fashion  rose, 
Begged  him  to  be  his  guest,  and  take  repose. 
In  courteous  conversation  passed  the  meal, 
And  each  for  each  respect  began  to  feel : 
But,  when  the  servants  cleared  away  the  board, 
Abraham  stood  up  alone,  and  thanked  the  Lord  ; 
And  those,  who  sat  at  meat,  with  reverent  air 
Echoed  his  thanks,  then  closed  their  eyes  in  prayer ; 
Except  the  stranger,  who  with  look  benign 
Looked  round  upon  them  all,  and  made  no  sign. 
Abraham  rebuked  him  :   "  Art  thou  silent,  when 
We  thank  our  God  for  His  good  gifts  to  men  ?" 
The  stranger  quietly  replied,  that  he 
Except  the  "  Fire  "  knew  no  Divinity. 
Exceeding  anger  Abraham's  bosom  tore  : 
He  rose  to  drive  the  stranger  from  his  door ; 
When  a  celestial  light  made  him  aware, 
That  a  high  IMessenger  of  God  stood  there, 
Who  calmly  spoke  :   "  Abraham,  thy  God  appears 
"  To  grant  this  man  a  life  of  ninety  years. 
"  Him  has  He  fed  with  oil,  and  wine,  and  corn, 
"  And  given  him  children's  children  to  be  born. 
"  If  God,  who  knows  each  heart,  restrains  His  ire, 
"  Because  His  creatures  stoop  to  worship  Fire, 
"  Are  you  to  drive  this  man  from  your  abode, 
"  And  be  less  merciful  to  him  than  God  ? 

"  Listen,  while  I  expound  the  ceaseless  Grace 
"  Of  God's  high  dealings  with  the  Human  Race  : 
"  'Tis  not  the  symbol,  creed,  or  form  of  prayer, 
"  Which  man's  relation  to  his  God  declare : 
"  He  reads  the  heart :  full  many  a  Saint  has  trod 
"  This  earth,  nor  once  pronounced  the  name  of  God. 
"  A  God  impersonal  can  thee  inspire  ; 
"  He  in  his  ignorance  sees  God  in  Fire; 
"  Others  with  simple  and  untutored  minds 


(       182       ) 

"  See  God  in  clouds,  and  hear  Him  in  the  winds ; 

"  Some  to  the  Heavenly  Host  their  homage  pay ; 

"  Some  grovelling  lower  bow  to  gods  of  clay. 

"  To  each  of  His  poor  children  God  gives  rest : 

"  Many  the  soul,  which  Love  of  God  has  blest. 

"  The  heart  of  Man  for  his  Creator  burns, 

"  Just  as  the  Sunflower  to  the  Sunbeam  turns. 

"  To  some  God  sends  His  Revelation's  light, 

"  And  yet  leaves  millions  in  darkest  night. 

"  He  claims  no  homage,  where  He  is  not  known  ; 

"  He  will  not  reap,  where  He  has  never  sown. 

"  Darest  thou  dispute  His  Wisdom,  or  His  might  ? 

"  Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  Earth  do  right  ? 

"  Ask  thou  the  heathen,  whose  beclouded  sense 

"  Scarce  knows  'twixt  Death  and  Life  the  difference, 

"  Who  makes  the  beauteous  fruit  on  trees  to  grow  ; 

"  Piles  up  the  hills  ;  lets  conquering  rivers  flow; 

"  Sends  rain  in  season  ;  fills  the  fields  with  corn; 

"  Lets  cattle  multiply,  and  babes  be  born  ? 

"  Will  he  not  bow  the  head,  and  point  to  Heaven, 

"  Feel  for  the  Hand,  by  which  all  is  given  ? 

"  IMillions  on  millions  pass  away  unhealed, 

"  Because  God  never  has  Himself  revealed. 

"  The  knowledge  of  His  Truth  Man  has  not  known, 

"  Because  no  Prophet  has  that  knowledge  shown  ; 

"  And  if,  till  Time  be  full.  His  will  He  veils, 

"  Where  is  the  sin,  if  Man  in  duty  fails  ? 

"  If  thy  rash  anger  more  restrained  had  been, 

"  This  aged  man  his  error  might  have  seen  : 

"  For  Faith  may  fail,  and  Hope  itself  remove  ; 

"  Poor  Human  hearts  are  won  by  conquering  Love. 

"Abraham,  look  down  the  vale  of  woe  and  tears, 
"  Through  which  thy  children  must  pass  many  years  ; 
"  Thou  wilt  descry  worked-out  a  wondrous  Plan, 
"  Thy  Lord,  thy  God,  disguised  in  form  of  Man. 
"  Rejoice,  that  thou  far  oft'  hast  seen  His  day: 
"  Be  still  and  silent :  turn  thee  in  and  pray; 
"  Pray  that,  their  errors  and  their  blindness  past, 
"  All  God's  poor  children  may  find  God  at  last." 

London,  December  2>^st,  1893. 


(       183       ) 


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Homer:  Iliad  and  Odyssey. 

Virgil :  ^neid,  Eclogue  No.  iv. 

Lucretius. 

Juvenal. 

Seneca. 

Horace. 

Claudian. 

Jewish  Quarterly  Review. 

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Distinctive  IMessages  of  Ancient  Religion.     Mathiesott,  1893. 

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15,    1893.     Tolstoi. 
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Homeric  Theology.     Gladstone,  1890. 
Gesta  Christi.     Loring  Brace,  1883. 
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Beginning  of  Religion.  Bacon. 
Childhood  of  Religion.  Clodd. 
Fundamentals.     Griffith. 

Bases  of  Religious  Belief.     Hibbert-Lecture,  Upton. 
Natural  Theology.     Gifford-Lecture,  Stokes. 
IModern  Scepticism  compared  with  Christian  Faith.     Kaufman. 
Christ  in  INIodern  Theology.     Fairbairn. 
Religion  and  Science.     Bampton- Lectures,  Temple. 
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The  Psalms.  Ditto.  Cheyne. 

Inspiration.  Ditto.  Sanday,  1893. 

Genesis  and  Growth  of  Religion.     Kellogg,  U.S. 
Evolution  of  Religion.     Caird. 
Report  of  Palestine  Exploration. 
Faith  and  Criticism. 
Biblical  Critics. 
Verbum  Dei.    Horton. 
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Did  Moses  write  the  Pentateuch  ?     Spencer. 
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of  Bath  and  Wells,  1893. 
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(2)  Christ  of  Dogma,  1870. 
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(       185       ) 

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Erasmus.     Froude,  1894, 

Thoughts  on  Religion.     Romanes. 

Studies  in  Biblical  Archaeology.     Jacob,  1895. 

Early   spread   of  Religious    Ideas    in   the    Far   East.      Edkins, 

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(2)  Neo-Platonism.     S/gg. 
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(     187     ) 


A.      INDEX  OF   SUBJECTS   AND   NAMES. 


(See  also  Classification  of  the  Subject,  page  xxiii.) 


A 

PAGE 

Abu  Simbul 35 

Accadian  idea  of  thunder  ...  89 
/Eneid,  the  Roman  Bible  .  .  .129 
Afflatus  claimed  by  all  Reformers  134 
African,  cruel  treatment  of  .  .157 
African,  Religious  acts      .     .     •     39 

Agnosticism 13,   176 

Ahaz,  dial  of 90 

Aix-la-Chapelle  Cathedral      .     .     47 

Alphabet 138 

Altruism    ....     ^     ...   160 

Amen  Ra 8,  58 

Ancestor  Worship    ....   28,  43 

Angels 26,  28,  29 

Anger  of  Deity 87 

Animism 28,   159 

Anthropology xiii 

Anthropomorphism 170 

Anthropos,  derivation  ....  3 
Apollonius  of  Tyana     ....     77 

Aria-Somaj 13 

Aristophanes 49 

Ashur 8 

Assyrian 2 

Astrology 41,  68 

Astronomy xiii 

Augurs 80 

Augustus,  Emperor,  Worship  of  43 
Austrian  Emperors'  Burial      .     .     94 

Avatara 33,  142,  162 

Azteks 18 


B 


Babi  Sect xviii 

Babylonian  idea  of  Future  State    102 


PAGE 

Balaam 67 

Banaras,  prisoners  at    .     .     .     .  68 

temples 149 

Barbarians,  conceptions  of     .     5,  98 

Beads,  counting  of 66 

Beatification  of  Monks       ...  76 

Bel  and  the  Dragon      ....  49 

Bhagavadgita 58 

Bona  Dea 81 

Book  of  the  Dead 132 

Book  Religions 20 

Book  Worship 120 

Brahmanist xviii 

Brahmo-Somaj 13 

Brittany,  treatment  of  a  Saint     .  79 
Buddha,    5,  6,  70,  75,  131,  137, 
141,  142,  144,  159,  160 

Buddhist xviii,  170 

Bull-fight,  a  pious  offering      .     .110 

c 

Calvin  on  Bible 124 

Cannibalism 93 

Caste- marks 13 

Cattle-killing  (India)    ....  148 

Centurion  at  Crucifixion    ...  23 

Charms 67 

Chemosh 18 

Children  suffering  for  parents      .  86 

China,  Emperor  prays  for  all       .  59 

no  Priesthood 67 

persecution 147 

Christian,  a  census  term    .     .     .163 

Christian  Polytheism     ....  24 

Christian  Religion,  features  of    .  3 

Christian  Sects 2 


(     188     ) 


PAGE 

Chronicles,  characteristic  of  .     .137 
Churches,  Pagan  decorations      .     63 

confiscation  by  other 

Religions 63 

Cicero i     " 

Circumcision 13, 

Cleanness  or  uncleanness  . 
Clement  of  Alexandria       .     . 
Clergyman,  prayers  of  aged   . 
Collection  of  children's  heads 

Comet  in  India 

Comparison  unjust  of  Religions 

Confucianist 

Constantine,  vision  of 
Continuance    of    non-Christian 

Religions 

Contracts  ratified  by  Sacrifice 
Coptic  Priests  doing  castration 
Corybantes,  dancing  of 
Court  practices,  modern 
Covenant  made  by  God 
Criminal  Laws,  effect  of 
Criticism,  Higher     .     . 
Cuneiform       .... 
Cyrus 


.  Si 

109 

68 

8 

61 

50 

88 

xxi 

xviii 

77 

12 

51 
no 

66 
107 

19 


134, 


XIV 

138 

1 68 


D 


Daniel I20 

Daniel,  Book  of ......  80 

Daphne,  the  laurel 143 

Darius 134 

Date  of  earliest  book  in  familiar 

use 120 

David XV 

■ character  of      .     .     .    137,  168 

Destruction  of  temples  by  light- 
ning     89 

Devils,  possessed  by      ....  28 
Divine  Beings,  minor  .     .     .   28,  32 


E 


Ecce  Homo xix 

Egyptian  Book  of  Dead     .     .     .132 
Egyptian  idea  of  Future  State    .    102 

Erasmus xix 

Euripides 81,  106,  107 

Exaggeration I35)  13S 

Expositor 124 

Expository  Times 82 


Familiar  Spirits 29 

Farrar  on  Orthodoxy    ....       4 


PAGE 

Farrar,  hyperbole 134 

Fate 16 


Geography xvi,   128 

Geology xiii 

God,  names  of 17 

Goodness  of  Human  Race  .  .158 
Gospel,  Apocryphal  .  .  .  .141 
Graeco-Roman    cult,    no    Sacred 

books 126 

Greek,  sentiments  of    .     .     .     .174 


H 


132 
13 

41 

139 

29 

150 
143 
138 
119 
xix 
103 
xvi 


Halo,  pseudo-,  of  ancient  books 

Hau-Hau  of  New  Zealand 

Heavenly  Host,  Worship  of 

Henry  VHI,  life  of 

Heraclitus      .     . 

Heretics     . 

Hero  Worship     . 

Hieroglyphics 

Higher  Criticism 

Hindu  Sages  . 

Hindu  idea  of  Future  State 

History 

Homer  ...  2,  26,  58,  83,  129 
Horace  .  .  xv,  2,  16,  54,  79,  80 
Human  Sacrifice      ....    48,  50 

Huxley 176 

Hymns  of  the  Veda      ....     58 


Ideas  disparaging  to  the  Wisdom 

of  God xviii 

Idolatry  called  whoredom       .     -135 
Idols  of  the  den,  theatre,  etc.      .    xvi 

exhibition  of 5 

Incantations 67 

Indian,  remarks  of  a  thoughtful       40 

only  father  of  family  prays       59 

Inquiry  of  the  Lord       ....     80 

Inspiration 1 14 

Isaiah   .     .     .     .     .     .      17,  79>  133 

Isis,  Worship  of 13 


J 


Januarius,  liquefaction  of  blood  .     78 
Japan,  spitting  prayers  on  Buddha     59 

Jerome 7 

Jews xviii,  6,  12 

Day  of  Atonement    ...     70 


(     189     ) 


PAGE 
Job I20 

John  the  Apostle      .     .  xvi,  128,  137 

Jonah 17 

Jordanus,  Monk Si 

Joseph,  dream 26 

Jupiter 29 

Justin  Martyr      ....      7j  8>  4i 

K 

Kaaba-Stone 13.  33 

pilgrimage  to  .     .     .     .    44,  46 

Kabala 68 

Karma,  what  was  it  ?    .     .     .     .      16 

Khalifa  Abdullah 76 

Khama 67 

Kingdoms  of  the  earth  exaggerated  136 
Knowledge  more  or  less  crude  .  xiv 
Kong-Fu-Tsee,  xix,  5,  127,  131, 

144,  159 
Koran  ....    120,  128,  131,  135 
Krishna 19,  137,  142 

L 

Languages 13,  121 

Later  conceptions  of  the  Deity    .  33 

Lazarus,  raising  of 138 

Leaders,  heavenly  in  battle    .     .  75 

Legends,  oral 139 

Lent,  dispensations  ....  69 
Lepers,  burying  alive    .     .     .     .110 

Libations 5^ 

Library,  dangers  of  ancient    .     .118 

Lingam 33 

Literary  frauds 117 

Liturgical xx 

Logic xvi 

Aoyos XVI 

Lucretius 5' 

Luther xix 

M 

Madonna  Statue 33 

Magical  Arts 67 

Mahdi 76 

Manetho 119 

Manichseism 13 

Manu's  Code 127 

Marathi  Hindu  observing  Maho- 
metan customs       ....  66 

Marcus  Aurelius 8 

Marriage  ceremonies    ....  144 

Mars'  Hill i 


PAGE 

Martyrdom    no    test    of  true 

Religion 158 

Matrimony  introduced  into  South 

India 1 10 

Memory  of  Repeaters  .     .     .     .112 

Meru,  Mount 24 

Messages  of  different  Nations  .  6 
Mexican  idea  of  Future  State  .  103 
Milton,  Paradise  Lost  .     .     .     .117 

Miracles 75 

are  possible 165 

Missionaries  .  12,  13,  149,  150,  154 
Missionary  Manual,  India      .     .     30 

Mithraism 13 

Monogamy 138,  158 

Montefiore 42 

Moses 5)    19 

Mother,  Worship  of  the  Great  .  13 
Myths 129,  140 

N 

Naini  Devi 25 

Nakedness  of  barbarous  tribes  .  Ill 
Naphtha  Springs,  Jowala  Mukhi  41 
Naples,  wells  for  the  dead  .  .  94 
Nathan,  the  Prophet  ....  144 
Nebuchadnezzar's  Image  .     .     .148 

Neith  or  Athene 18 

New  Guinea,  disposal  of  dead  .  93 
New  Religious  Conceptions  .     .     13 

Nirvana 106 

Non-Christian  world  .  .  .  4,  II 
Nuk  pa  nuk 18 

O 

Object  of  Worship,  Agni  Purana  36 
Offerings  to  demi-gods  ...  49 
Old  people  killed  by  their  children  94 

Olympus,  Mount 24 

Opium-Trade 57,  86 

Oracles 80,  83 

Ordeals 85 

Orestes  and  Furies 90 

Orientation  of  Churches    ...     25 

Orthodoxy 149,    154 

Osiris lOl,   142 

Ovid 26 

Outfit  of  Human  Race ....     39 

P 

Paganism,  Messages  of     .     .     .       6 

in  Christia-n  Churches    .  38,  65 

Palermo,  dead  monks  ....     94 


(     190     ) 


PAGE 

Paul  the  Apostle      .     .     .      .1,    109 

Penance 64,   70 

Perfection  of  God 22 

Pericles 8 

Persecution xviii,  147 

Peter  the  Apostle 150 

Phidias 8 

Philo xvi,  9,    1 17 

Philosophy,  two  nations  only      .  127 

Phineas 168 

Pictures 16 1 

Pilgrimage 44 

Plato,  xvi,  xix,   i,  5,  7,  81,  112, 
128,  173 

Plutarch 30 

Poetical  Rhapsody 136 

Pol)'gamy  and  Concubinage  144,  158 
Population  of  the  world     .      .    II,    12 

Post-Office  Bugle 68 

Priestcraft xx,  6 

Primitive  Revelation  ....  30 
Progress  of  Religious  Conception     48 

Prophecy  in  India 81 

Prophets  commissioned  by  God  .      17 

■ interference  with  civil  power  184 

Purgatory 162 

Pythagoras xix 

Pythagoreans,  new 80 

Q 

R 

Races,  degraded  position  of  .     .157 

Rags  on  trees 41 

Rain,  praying  for 89 

Rama  ....  19,  141,  142,  162 
Rameses  II,  Mummy  of    ...     93 

Ramzan  fast 69,   70 

Reading,  limited  power  of     .     .115 

Relics 46 

Religion,  the  highest  outcome     .        5 

the  universal  feature  ...      1 1 

Religious  belief  disappearing      .    163 

instinct 30,  31 

Rewards  and  Punishments  .  .  98 
Rock  Inscriptions  .  .  .  112,  115 
Rome,  Church  of    .     .     .      .    13,    15 

Romish  converts 46 

Romish  Shrines 26 

Rumour 83 

S 

Sacerdotalism 65,  67 

Sacred  Books 126 


PAGE 

Sacrifice,  sheep  in  Syria    ...  48 

savour  of 48 

female  chastity      ....  49 

different  kinds  and  motives  49 

low  and  high  view  of     .     .  50 

■ Hindu  view  of  the  power  of  51 

institution  outgrown.     .     .  52 

Sacrilege,  what  is  it  ?   .      .     .     .  54 

Sadducees 172 

Saints  take  place  of  demi-gods    .  43 

Sanskrit 130 

Sargon 140 

Satan 26 

Science xiii 

new  worlds  of      .     .     .       xviii 

Scientific  treatment  of  Religion  .  72 

Seneca 2 

Serapis 81 

Shaftesbury,  Earl  of     ....  60 

Sign  of  coming  events  ....  90 

Simple  conceptions  of  early  Man  42 

Sins  of  Christian  cities       ...  21 

Sneezing 83 

Socrates,  xix,  5,  7,  26,  49,  131, 
144,  169,  173 

Solomon xv,  136,  137 

Spider's  web 77 

Spirits 38,  47,  92 

Spurgeon 46 

State  Colleges,  effect  on  youth   .  146 

Statues 161 

Stones  with  marks  of  feet      .     .  75 

Superstition  in  modern  times      .  84 

Survey  of  mankind xvi 

Synagogue  Rolls 114 


Talipat  Palm-leaf 1 18 

Tattooing 13 

Teraphim 43 

Theosophism 13 

Therianthropic 42 

Tibetan  Buddhist 54 

Prayer-wheel 60 

Times,  places,  seasons       .     .      .     Ji 

Tobit 28,  76 

Tolerance 3 

Torquemada 150 

Tragedians I,  17,  5^ 

Transmigration 98 

Tree  and  Serpent  Worship     .     .     41 

Troitska,  Russia 63 

Truth    ....  xiv,  xvii,  5,  13,  169 


(     191     ) 


U 

PAGE 

U-Ganda 124 

- — —  prayers  of  two  sides  ...  61 

Ulysses,  prayer  of 59 

Unfair  treatment  of  non-Christian 

Religions 9 

Universality  of  Religious  Truth    2,  18 

Unseen  and  unknown  Power      .  i 

Uzza 87 


V 


Veda    _ 131,  135 

Vespasian 81 

Virgil 2,  58,  76,  129 

Voices,  heavenly 29 

W 


Week,  names  of  days  . 


41 


PAGE 

Widow-burning no 

Wisdom xvi,  31 

Worship I 

mockery     of    Nineteenth 

Century 3-7 


X 


Yahveh,  only  God  of  Israel  .     .     32 


Zaragossa 47 

Zeus 32 

Zoroaster xix,  26,  159 


(     192     ) 


B.     INDEX  OF  QUOTATIONS. 


A 

PAGE 

Abu  ben  Adhem  (Leigh  Hunt)  .  i6o 

Adrian  to  his  Soul 105 

Statue  of  Memnon    ...  29 

yEschylus 102 

Alcuin 150 

Amberley,  Viscount      .     .     .     .  17S 

Aratus 4 

Aristotle 8i 

Assur-bani-pal 82 

Athene,  offering  to 36 

Augustine  of  Hippo      .     .     •     7)   '  i 

Aztek  prayer 59 

Anonymous  9,    11,  76,   77,   95, 
167,  169,  179 

Paul  at  Virgil's  tomb      .     .130 

Tlov  yfi'0/J.ai  ; 1 28 


B 


Beard,  Hibbert- Lecture     ...  9 

Bellars II9 

Benson,  Archbishop      .     .       10,  116 

Beveridge,  Bishop 170 

Bhagavadgita       .     .     .      .     127,  146 

Brooke,  Bishop 15 

Butler,  Dr.,  of  Trinity  College, 

Cambridge 164 

C 

Carlyle 33 

Cicero xvni 

Claudian xv 

Cleanthes 4 

Clifton  Collins  (Life  of  Plato)     .  7 

Conybeare 17° 

Cust,  R.  N.    .     .     .  ix,  99,  140,  181 


D 

Dale,  Future  State  . 
Death 


.     .     96 
95.  105 


PAGE 

Dhammapada 145 

Dreams,  Greek 127 

Driver,  Word  of  God    .     .     .     .124 

pity  for  animals    .     .     .     .  17 

Diaspora,  the  Jew  of    ....  65 

Disease  and  Death  as  punishments  88 

Divination 68 

Dogmatism xvi 

Doll,  illustration  of  idol     ...  32 

Dost  Mahomed  at  his  prayers     .  58 


Easter  Island,  gigantic  statues    .  35 

Eclipse  of  the  .Sun b8 

Egypt,  monuments 7 

Eschatology 95 

• Sovereign  of 136 

Egyptians,  sentiment  of    .     .     .174 

Electricity xiii 

Elijah, 19 

Empedocles 29 

Ephod 67 

Epictetus 9 

Established  Church xx 

Etruscan  divination 8^ 

Eusebius 7 

F 

Failure  of  Religion 177 

P'amily  vaults 94 

Fanatic,  what  is  it  ?       ....    152 

Fatherhood  of  God 17 

Fasting  Communion      ....     69 

Female  Infanticide no 

Fergusson,  James 41 

Festival,  Mahometan    .     .     .     .162 

Fetichism 19,  43 

Finality  of  Religious  conception,  xviii 

Fire-worship 40 

Forbidden  articles  of  food       .     .168 
Fulness  of  Time,  which  was  it  ?  .    173 


(     193     ) 


Funeral-rites,  necessity  of. 
Further  off  from  God   . 

G 


PAGE 
.  92 
.       18 


Galileo i 

Gaj-atri  of  Brahma 41 

Ginsburg  on  Chemosh  .     .      .      .  18 

Gladstone  on  Future  State     .      .  104 

— —  on  Ecce  Homo     ....  xix 

Green 173 

Grote 128 


H 


Harps,  Egyptian  Inscription  .  .  146 
Hatasu,  Queen,  Inscription    .     .136 

Hatch 63,  70 

Hebrew  at  prayer 55 

Herodotus 16 

Higher  Criticism 116 

Holy  life,  Egyptian  idea  of   .     .   105 

Homer 16,  27,  93,  103 

Horace  .  .  .  .  23,  31,  86,  88 
Hungarian  Toleration  .     .     148,  151 

I 

Inscriptions,  Egyptian ....     18 

Greek,    no    allusion    to   a 

Future  State 104 

Isaiah 29 

J 

Jeremiah 84 

Johnston,    century    of   Christian 

Progress 150 

Josephus Si 

Julian,  last  Oracle  of  Delphi  .  83 
Juvenal xxi,  56 

K 

Keble 51 

Khedive  Ismail,  funeral  of     .      .    108 

Khu-en-Atin 147 

Knowledge     only    recollection  : 

Plato 159 

Kong-Fu-Tsee 145 

L 

Latin  Poets  on  God  ....  16 
Lavigerie,  Inscription  ....  37 
Lefroy  of  Dehli  Mission  ...     10 


PAGE 

Legge  of  China 16,  122 

Libation 49,  53 

Lincoln,  President  of  U.S.    .     .     27 

Livy 26,  78 

London,  Bishop  Temple  .  .  .151 
Loring  Brace.  ....  141,  142 
Lucretius 87,  89,  146 

M 

Mahometan  apophthegm,  ■•"  Son 

of  God" 23 

Malachi 12 

Manchester  Martyrs     ....  66 

Martineau 166 

Alaspero 85 

Max  Muller 5,  8 

(Gifibrd-Lecture)      .     .     .114 

(South  Pacific  Legends)     .  140 

Alekka,  Pilgrim  trafiic .     ...  45 

Mivart,  St.  George 38 

Montefiore,  Hibbert-Lecture       .  86 

More,  Eutopia 151 

Mutianus  Rufus 9 

N 

Nanak  Baba  ....  25,  58,  103 
Newton,  spiritual  inquiry  ...  80 
Nineveh 35;  7o>  lOj 


O 


Om  Mani  Pani  Hom  •  •  •  •  55 
Orpheus,  description  of  a  Prophet  82 
Ovid '.     .      .     .     90 

P 

Pacific  myths 140 

Paul  the  Apostle,  4,  5,  15,  25,  134,  159 

Peter  the  Apostle 5 

Pilate,  Latin  anagram  ....  xvii 

Plato 26,  29,  103,  159 

Plutarch 142 

I'lymouth  Brethren 85 

Poetry,  modern  on  Death       .     .106 

Porphyry 81 

Prayer,  act  of  merchandise  .  .  53 
• of  Hindu    .....    53,  55 

of  Roman  soldier     ...     53 

flattery,  threats    ....     54 

contradictory  at  same  time  54,  55 

denial  by  the  Creator    .     .      55 

abuse  of 56,  57 

malignant 59,  88 

13 


(     194     ) 


PAGE 

Parana,  Agni 36 

Vishnu 99 

Q 

Quarterly  Review 123 

R 

Rabshakeh 114 

Raghuvansa 22 

Rashdall 175 

Renan  ....       xiv,  21,  122,  171 

Renouf,  Egyptian  idea  of  God    .  18 

Hibbert-Lecture  ....  196 

Respecter  of  persons    ....  5 

Robertson  Smitfi      .     .     .      xxi,  124 

Ruskin 161 

S 

Sadler,  Canon 105 

Samuel,  Prophet 96 

Sanday,  Professor 135 

Sayce 41,  82,  89 

Self,  World,  God 19 

Selwyn,  Bishop,  the  elder  .  .159 
Selwyn,  Bishop,  the  younger  17,  167 
Semper,  ubique,  ab  omnibus       .   135 

Seneca 79 

Shakespeare 79,  103 

Sheol 95,  97 

Sin,  Jewish  idea  of 95 

Greek  confession  of.     .     .     59 

Socrates,  dying  words  .      .     .  xxi,  49 

Solomon 25 

Spirit,  Holy  striving  with  man  .   131 

Stanley,  Dean 9,  13 

Stephen,  dying  words  of  .     .     .     62 

Strike  at  Hull 88 

Suetonius Si 

Sun's  disk,  Khu-en-Atin   .     .     .    147 


T 

PAGE 

Tacitus 80 

Tennyson 177 

TertuUian 8r 

Thales 29 

Theognis xvi 

Tiberius 150 

Tibullus 85,  93 

Tiele 28,  163 

Trench 10 

U 

Unknown  God 141 

V 

Vaughan,  Cardinal  ...    4,  61,  62 

Veritas,  quid  est  ? xvii 

Virgil   16,  26,  34,  79,  80,  82,  89,  103 

Vishnu  Purana 99 

Vision  on  the  Kongo     ....     26 
Visions,  definition  of    ....     83 

W 

Westcott,  Bishop,  8,  11,  16,  42, 

62,  121,  160 
Whateley,  Archbishop       ...     38 
Wisdom  of  Solomon    .     .     .     .     31 
Wiseman,  Cardinal       .     .     .     7,  39 


X 


Xenophon 85 

Ximenes,  Cardinal 76 


Zoroastrian,  prayers  of      •     •     ■     59 


ERRATA 


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pp.  /or  ph. 


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idiots  /or  idols. 

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obscure  for  obscene. 


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